Date of Award

2019

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Arun Shukla

Second Advisor

Bahram Nassersharif

Abstract

Team Operation: Watertight has been given the task to design a technique for printing or a post process application for treating fused deposition modeled parts to become impermeable to water. The final design report shows the progress made over the past academic year in order to create this process.

In the fall, the team brainstormed many possible solutions and was able to narrow them down with the support of our sponsors, accompanied by a lot of research. This research consisted of many literature searches and patent searches to ensure there was not a process already designed for this application. Last semester, four concepts were selected and tested: resin injection, resin vacuum in filtration, XTC-3D, and Gelcoat. Each concept was applied to 3D printed ABS parts and then submerged in water. The change in mass after submersion for varying lengths of time allowed for the evaluation of each process.

From the results seen, XTC-3D and resin injection proved to be the most promising out of the four. With this knowledge, the two methods were combined and tested in the Spring semester. They were not only tested by submergence, but pressure and strength tests were done as well. The original goal for the pressure test was to create a vessel to withstand 100 psi. With the methods applied, this goal was surpassed by 200 psi. The strength test was completed to see the effects of each method on the structural integrity of the 3D printed part.

Comments

Sponsor: General Dynamics/Electric Boat

Sponsor Representatives: Kurt Hamel, Evan Lebras

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