Additive manufacturing of polymeric and functional materials

Additive Manufacturing (AM) of polymeric materials is an important manufacturing platform for the fabrication of functional and customisable engineered products. This unit will provide an overview of existing additive manufacturing processes such as 'fused deposition modelling', 'stereolithography', 'polymer jetting' and 'powder bed fusion'. Each of these technologies relies on the appropriate selection of a polymer and the fundamentals of different classes of polymeric materials will be reviewed. Advantages and drawbacks of existing and emerging AM technologies will also be discussed. The unit will also investigate examples of the use of these technologies for the design and fabrication of functional polymeric parts. You will obtain practical skills in 3D printing of polymers, computer-aided design and processing of polymers for additive manufacturing.