Evaluation of Thermal Gelation of F-127 in a Non-Aqueous Solvent and its Suitability as a Support Material for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract:

Pluronics are well known for their reverse thermal gel (RTG) formation in aqueous solutions and have been used in a variety of industrial applications. Additive Manufacturing processes that utilize jetting technology require support materials for building parts that comprise holes, cavities and/or overhangs. Currently available support materials include waxes which due to their brittleness, are weak and can lead to accuracy issues during part building via jetting technology. Pluronic F-127 in a non-aqueous solvent (Formamide) have been investigated in this paper for thermal gelation at elevated temperatures and the suitability of this composition as support material for jetting based AM processes have been evaluated.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 911)
• Pages: 226-231
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.911.226
• Online since: March 2014
• Authors: Muhammad Fahad, Maqsood Ahmed Khan, Marianne Gilbert
• Keywords: Additive Manufacturing (AM), Formamide, Pluronics, Thermal Gelation

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