Ultrasonic-assisted screw extrusion 3D printing experiments

Screw-based material extrusion is a typical 3D printing technology, which can be applied in various industrial fields, such as metals, architecture, and medicine. However, high viscosity and high solids materials often have flow restriction and nozzle blockage in the extrusion process, resulting in poor molding quality or even failure, which has become a key bottleneck restricting the development of extrusion 3D print. Although ultrasonic assisted technology can improve this problem, the existing methods are mainly limited to the nozzle surface, and it is difficult to regulate the internal behavior of the fluid. This paper introduces a novel ultrasonic assisted 3D Printing (UA3DP) technique, which builds upon screw-based material extrusion. An innovative ultrasonic assisted 3D printing extruder is developed. A series of comparison experiments reveal that ultrasonic vibration significantly enhances performance metrics of traditional screw-based 3D printing, including higher flow rate, fewer surface defects, and better printability with smaller nozzle sizes.