A Survey on Fused Filament Fabrication to Produce Functionally Gradient Materials

Authors

Arup Dey
Monsuru Ramoni, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Nita Yodo

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-25-2024

Abstract

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) is a key extrusion-based additive manufacturing (AM) process for fabricating components from polymers and their composites. Functionally gradient materials (FGMs) exhibit spatially varying properties by modulating chemical compositions, microstructures, and design attributes, offering enhanced performance over homogeneous materials and conventional composites. These materials are pivotal in aerospace, automotive, and medical applications, where the optimization of weight, cost, and functional properties is critical. Conventional FGM manufacturing techniques are hindered by complexity, high costs, and limited precision. AM, particularly FFF, presents a promising alternative for FGM production, though its application is predominantly confined to research settings. This paper conducts an in-depth review of current FFF techniques for FGMs, evaluates the limitations of traditional methods, and discusses the challenges, opportunities, and future research trajectories in this emerging field.

Comments

© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Recommended Citation

Dey, Arup, Monsuru Ramoni, and Nita Yodo. 2024. "A Survey on Fused Filament Fabrication to Produce Functionally Gradient Materials" Materials 17, no. 15: 3675. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17153675

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

Materials

DOI

10.3390/ma17153675