Boeing

Thermoplastic Additive Manufacturing Finishing Process

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is revolutionizing the way we fabricate aerospace components by enabling increasingly complex part designs. The Fused Filament Fabrication 3D printing process has many advantages including the ability to print one-off replacement parts. However, the resulting substrates are porous throughout the part, similar to a solid sponge, which makes them difficult to smooth and finish. The student team worked to study the print parameters for an optimized porosity at the part surface, completed a paper study on potential smoothing options, and provided recommendations on the best technique.