Buildability of Mortar-Feedstock in Material-Extrusion Additive Manufacturing (2020-07)¶

Mortar feedstock is extruded to form bead and it is selectively placed line by line in the material extrusion additive manufacturing. With respects to part building process healthiness, load-supporting ability of overlaid beads is emphasized as buildability. Buildability is primarily dependent on thixotropic properties of feedstock and vertical overlapping schedule. In the present study, water-to-binder (w/b) ratio was chosen as material aspect to assess buildability. Uneven bead shape evolution and premature failure were highlighted owing to low yield stress of high w/b ratio feedstock. Feedstock with optimum w/b ratio showed good buildability even at the interval time of 19 sec.