Application of induction heating in the FDM/FFF 3D manufacturing

This article addresses the problem of induction heating in its application to the FDM/FFF 3D manufacturing. One of the major problems of the FDM/FFF is the instability of layer-to-layer adhesion quality, and on the larger scale - maintaining the homogeneity of material inside the whole printed object. Approach for mitigating and/or resolving of those problems, based on the fast and reliable control of the extruded material temperature during the printing process was proposed. Such approach uses specially created testbed system, consists of the ultra-low weight induction heated nozzle and fast temperature controller. This equipment enables rapid heating and cooling of the nozzle at low input power. On the contrary, using of the nozzle with the minimal thermal mass poses the problems of maintaining even heat distribution on the nozzle surface, and therefore inside the heated material. Multiphysics FEM model for the electromagnetic and thermal problem for the proposed nozzle and inductor configuration was formulated, and numerically solved using COMSOL 5.2a. Parametric optimization of the inductor form and heating signal frequency was conducted. Series of the experiments with the optimized inductor construction were made using the proposed testbed, showing significant increase of the heating speed and uniform heat distribution on the nozzle surface, and therefore in the final printed object quality. Experimental data for the all stages of conducted research is provided.