About this Abstract |
Meeting |
2025 Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium (SFF Symp 2025)
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Symposium
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2025 Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium (SFF Symp 2025)
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Presentation Title |
Advancing Pneumatic Liquid Metal Jetting: Sub-Millisecond Actuation for Versatile Metal Additive Manufacturing |
Author(s) |
Nicholas Watkins, Viktor Sukhotskiy, Kellen D. Traxel, Jason R. Jeffries, Andrew J. Pascall |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Nicholas Watkins |
Abstract Scope |
Droplet-on-demand liquid metal jetting is an emerging powder-free metal AM method. Existing commercial LMJ systems use magnetohydrodynamic or piezoelectric forces to rapidly create molten droplet voxels for metal part production. Pneumatic actuation is an alternative method that has a unique combination of advantages: no moving parts contacting the molten fluid, can jet feedstock of any electrical conductivity, and can switch between constant jetting mode and droplet-on-demand mode. However, pneumatic actuation traditionally has suffered from slower actuation timescales, where pulse durations are at best on order of several milliseconds. This results in a slower, less stable jetting process that typically produces reduced quality parts. We will present our investigations into building a more responsive pneumatic printhead via improvements to the printhead design and waveform optimization. These improvements may decrease pulse timing below the millisecond timescale—opening the door to higher quality pneumatically-jetted metal parts.
Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL-ABS-2005016. |
Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: Post-meeting proceedings |