Development of new metal/polymer materials for rapid tooling using FDM

FDM is one of the latest techniques of AM which is finding widespread applications. Lot of research work has been carried out on identifying the parameters that affect the properties of the final product. Research has taken place to optimize these parameters and development of mathematical models, so that the manufactured component has good dimensional accuracy, good surface finish with minimum use of material and at a low cost with low manufacturing time. Research has also been done to find out the applications of FDM in various fields like medicine, rapid casting and rapid tooling applications. The development of new materials for FDM which are cost effective and having specific desired properties has been studied and it is seen that new composite materials have been developed which are mixed in a certain proportion after cryogenic grinding of nylon based binders, the filler material, plasticizers, surfactants and certain other additives like stabilizers. The present research aims at developing a new composite material having ferromagnetic characteristics without the use of plasticizers and surfactants without the use of cryogenic grinding.