Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science and Engineering, Youngstown State University, 2022, Materials Science

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has changed the manufacturing world by opening doors to develop structures that were either not possible before or extremely complex with regular manufacturing. This work investigated Powder Bed Fusion AM which allows the creation of complex structures for metal parts using high performance materials. Industries such as aerospace have seen benefits in using AM, not only in designing but replacing parts for aging aircrafts. Polyaryle Ether Ketones (PAEK) materials, in a Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) system, were used because its mechanical performance is close to that of aluminum and the applications for aerospace and biomedical industries. Printing of PEEK and PEKK can be difficult due to the high melting point required of the materials. The recent availability of soluble support has allowed the printing of lattices with overhanging features. Density can be optimized to have a balance between weight and strength for aerospace structures and implants. 3D printing has been applied in a variety of ways, from printing with material extrusion printers and stopping the print to embed electronics in the structure and then resuming the print, to printing components in vat photopolymerization (VPP) printers in a jigsaw-like way, with cavities to fit electronics and overmold together, which will leave the components inside the structure. A lot of research has been done on wearable electronics, for things like cortisol, H2S, haptic feedback, pressure sensors and others, due to the demand for smaller electronics. The flexibility provided by AM, allows for these two well studied technologies to be combined into one, 3D printed wearable electronics.

Committee: Snjezana Balaz Ph.D. (Advisor); Holly Martin Ph.D. (Committee Member); Donald Priour Ph.D. (Committee Member); Clovis Linkous Ph.D. (Committee Member); Christopher Hansen Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Aerospace Materials; Engineering; Materials Science; Polymers; Technology