Solid freeform fabrication of highly loaded composite materials

Abstract

Composites are known for their unique blend of modulus, strength, and toughness. This study focuses on two types of composites; organic-inorganic hybrids and the mineralization of highly swollen polymer gels. Both of these composite systems mimic the biological process of composite formation, known as biomineralization. Biomineralization allows for the control of the precipitating phase through an interaction with the organic matrix. This allows higher volume fractions of inorganic material than can be achieved by many traditional processing techniques. Solid freeform fabrication is a processing method that builds materials by the sequential addition of thin layers. As long as the material can easily be converted from a liquid to a solid, it should be amenable for this processing technique. Freeform fabrication has three distinctions from traditional processing techniques that may enable the formation of composite materials with improved mechanical properties. These are the sequential addition of layers, which allows a layer by layer influence of chemistry, the ability to form complex geometries, and finally, extrusion freeform fabrication has been shown to align fibers due to the extrusion of the slurry through a needle. Cracking and shrinkage still play a major role in forming solid parts. The use of an open mesh structure in combination with proper materials selection allowed the formation of highly loaded composite materials without cracking. The modulus values of these materials ranged from 0.1 GPa to 6.0 GPa. The mechanical properties of these materials were modeled.