About this Abstract |
Meeting |
2025 Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium (SFF Symp 2025)
|
Symposium
|
2025 Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium (SFF Symp 2025)
|
Presentation Title |
Development of Additive Manufacturing Material and Process Technologies to Improve the Re-Manufacturing Efficiency of Commercial Vehicle Tires |
Author(s) |
Yiqun Fu, Taduez Kosmal, Timothy Long, Christopher Williams |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Yiqun Fu |
Abstract Scope |
Conventional tire retreading, which involves buffing the entire circumference of the tire, results in the loss of 4 kg of material per tire (~8% of its weight) and adds an additional 2 kg of new material, which reduces overall vehicle efficiency. The authors present a novel retreading process in which compounded rubber is selectively printed onto a damaged tire surface to enable localized repair, thus improving re-manufacturing efficiency. 3D scan data is used to directly create multi-axis robotic material extrusion (MEX) toolpaths to enable conformal surface deposition via a 8-DoF robotic workcell. A novel MEX tool enables direct dispensing of a conventional compounded bonding rubber feedstock. The authors present an analysis of process-property interactions for the robotically printed rubber and demonstrate direct fabrication of 3D rubber geometries. In addition, the robotic workcell is validated via successful vehicle tire repair and characterization against relevant tire performance metrics. |
Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: Post-meeting proceedings |