At the conference 4D Materials Design and Additive Manufacturing, Ferdinand Cerbe was awarded with the “Best Research Presentation Award” by the 4D Printing Society. His awarded presentation is about a “Methodology for FDM 4D printing with thermo-responsive polymers”.
Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is an additive manufacturing (AM) process which can be used to manufacture transforming structures. AM of transforming structures is also known as 4D printing. Thermoplastic shape memory polymers (SMP) allow printing a structure in a temporary shape, which can later be activated by exposing the structure to heat. Different geometries and transformation performance can be achieved by adjusting various printing parameters and structure layup.
A great challenge is the comparability and reproducibility of research results due to different materials and printers being used in studies. This paper introduces a methodology, which organizes the influencing parameters in the 4D-printing process with FDM. It provides a guideline for four sections: Material selection, Structure Design, Printing, and Activation. The process model also allows to systematically identify further research topics and plan experiments.