COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & SCIENCE

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is a type of additive manufacturing in which layers of thermoplastic filament material are heated and extruded upon each other to fully form 3D printed objects. Annealing is the process of heating material, then allowing it to cool evenly, thereby removing internal stresses and making the material stronger. The purpose of this project is to combine laser annealing with the 3D printing process to produce stronger 3D prints. Currently, 3D prints must be strengthened by an additional process before commercial application. Reducing or eliminating the need for these time-consuming and expensive steps will save valuable resources. The in-situ system will give a 3.5 Watt laser 360° access to a printed base layer in the X-Y plane in order to heat up the thermoplastic filament to glass transition temperature to increase interlayer bonding without allowing the thermoplastic to warp. By heating the base layer, interlayer adhesion strength can be increased, as currently extruding filament will reflow to better adhere to the newly extruded layer. This in-situ annealing process is achieved by designing and manufacturing a modified extruder carrier which mounts the laser so it can revolve with precise control around the extruder nozzle.