The influence of rheology on melt processing conditions of carbon fiber reinforced polyetherimide for big area additive manufacturing

Christine Ajinjeru, Vidya Kishore, Zeke Sudbury, Chad Duty, John Lindahl, Ahmed Hassen, Brian Post, Lonnie Love, Vlastimil Kunc

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

An approach is presented for determining the melt processing conditions of high temperature amorphous thermoplastics, specifically carbon fiber reinforced polyetherimide (PEI), for Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM). PEI is a high performance thermoplastic that is attractive for various high temperature applications in the automotive and aircraft industry. For PEI to be processed successfully with BAAM, it must be stable over a range of temperatures and print conditions to ensure the final part possesses the desired strength and modulus. Under this approach, thermal properties are first analyzed to identify the lower and upper operating limits for the polymer and then extensive rheological characterization is carried out at selected temperatures within these bounds. This study investigates the effect of temperature, fiber loading, and processing environment on rheology in order to identify suitable process parameters for extruding carbon-fiber reinforced PEI on BAAM.

Original languageEnglish
Pages1823-1829
Number of pages7
StatePublished - 2017
EventSAMPE Seattle 2017 Conference - Seattle, United States
Duration: May 22 2017May 25 2017

Conference

ConferenceSAMPE Seattle 2017 Conference
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySeattle
Period05/22/1705/25/17

Funding

Research sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC. The authors also thank Techmer ES and SABIC for providing materials used for this work. We are also grateful to Jordan Failla and Andrew Chern for their assistance in preparing the samples for rheology testing and thermal characterization.

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