Theoretical and Computational Analysis on the Melt Flow Behavior of Polylactic Acid in Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing under Vibration Field

Material extrusion (ME), an extrusion-based rapid prototyping technique, has been extensively studied to manufacture final functional products, whose forming quality is significantly influenced by the melt flow behavior (MFB) inside the extrusion liquefier. Applied vibration has a great potential to improve the MFB, and thereby promote the forming quality of the built product. To reveal the mechanism, a dynamic model of the melt flow behavior (DMMFB) is established based on fluid dynamics, Tanner nonlinear constitutive equation and Newton's power law equation. The MFB, i.e., pressure drop, shear stress and apparent viscosity, is investigated without and with different vibration applied. The corresponding finite element analysis (FEA) is then carried out. From the comparison between DMMFB and FEA results, it is concluded that the proposed model is reliable. When vibration is applied onto the extrusion liquefier, the time-domain MFB will change periodically. Its effective value decreases significantly, and further decreases with the increase of vibration frequency or amplitude. This paper provides the theoretical basis to improve the MFB by applied vibration, and thereby to enhance the forming quality of ME products.