3-d Printer Project Report

3-D Printing with Carbon Nanotube
Filament
Project Report
December 14th, 2015
Title Page
Written By:
Caleb Shunatona
Kansas State University
Mechanical Engineering Undergrad
ME 651 Intro to Composites
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3-D Printing with Carbon Nanotube Filament
Table of Contents
Title Page ..................................................................................................................................................... i
Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................... ii
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 1
Purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 1
Scope ....................................................................................................................................................... 2
Methods .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Limitations ............................................................................................................................................. 2
3-D Printing Process and Set Up........................................................................................................... 3
Duplicator i3 printer ............................................................................................................................ 3
Host program ........................................................................................................................................ 4
3D View ............................................................................................................................................... 5
Commonly Used Buttons ................................................................................................................ 5
Object Placement.............................................................................................................................. 6
Slicer .................................................................................................................................................... 7
Print Preview ................................................................................................................................... 14
Manual Control ............................................................................................................................... 14
SD Card.............................................................................................................................................. 15
Speciman Characterization............................................................................................................... 17
Testing....................................................................................................................................................... 19
Scanning Electron Microscopy .................................................................................................... 19
Tensile Testing ................................................................................................................................ 19
Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................................... 20
Summary of Test Results .................................................................................................................. 20
Tensile Test Graphs ............................................................................................................................ 20
Summary and Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 22
Works Cited.............................................................................................................................................. 23
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Introduction
The use of a filament to build an object through additive manufacturing using a digital
file of the object is the process of 3-D printing. Within recent years the technology and
popularity of 3-D printing has risen enough to make it a low cost option to create
almost any objects that can be imagined for many purposes. The standard 3-D printer
uses a common thermoplastic, usually Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) or
Polyactide (PLA), which can become heated to become soft and malleable and then will
become solid when cooled back down to room temperature. This is known as the fused
deposition modeling (FDM) process and is only one of the process that can be used to
3-D print but is the simplest and most popular process.
The plastic is held within a spool that is fed into the printer head. This printer head has a
motor, a heating element, a fan, and an extruder. The motor controls very accurately the
amount of plastic fed through the extruder. The heating element assures the plastic is at
the correct temperature to be soft enough to be pushed through the extruder without
becoming too hot to become runny. The fan then can be adjusted to help the cooling
process once the plastic has exited the extruded and been laid down to become part of
the part and solidify.
Most printers use threaded screws or threaded bands with motors to control the 3-
Dimensional position of the printer head. One motor will be used to control one of the
3-Dimensional movements of either the printer head or the printer bed. The accuracy of
these motors are usually around 1 microns and distinguish how small the movements
and detail of a print the printer can create.
The use of uncommon printing filament has recently been introduced to mainstream
printing. One type of filament of increased interest is a carbon nanotubes (CNT)
composite filament. This filament uses ABS plastic that has had carbon nanotubes
infused within it. Carbon nanotubes are incredibly strong, are light weight, conductive,
and are made completely of pure carbon atoms. The use of this composite compared to
just ABS plastic can create objects that have a slightly higher strength but more
importantly a higher conductivity.
Purpose
The main focus of this report to talk about the production of objects using a 3-D printer
and the effects and property of objects created with CNT filament. This report should be
able to let someone who has never worked with a 3-D printer before to create an
objects using either cad software, a meshing software, or by downloading a file from the
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internet. Then use a program with a slicer to create a g-code file that can be used with a
host software or the printer directly to create the object using the 3-D printer.
Scope
The 3-D printer focused on within this report is a Wanhao Duplicator i3 printer. The cad
software that will be used is Solidworks. The meshing software used will be Meshmixer
and blender. An image processing program called Inkscape will be used. The slicing
programs that will be covered are Slicex and Cura. The host program that will used is
Repetier-Host. The different filaments that will be analyzed will be an ABS filament, a
PLA filament, and a Carbon Nanotube composite filament. A study of strength using a
tensile test will be done and a study of the characteristics of the filament before and
after printing will be done with a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).
Methods
All research was done within the Kansas State University labs. There will be information
received from manuals, forums, lecture presentations and personal experience used
within the report. The use of simple objects such as dog bones samples and logos will
be used as the printed objects to be studied.
Limitations
Within this report, only the FDM process of 3-D printing will be covered. The only
printer to be able to be analyzed is the Duplicator i3 and only the open free software
mentioned earlier will be studied and explained.
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3-D Printing Process and Set Up
Duplicator i3 printer
Figure 1. Wanhao Duplicator i3 Desktop 3-D Printer
Pictured above is the 3-D printer that will be used within this report. This printer
is modeled after a Prusa Mendel i3 printer and comes from Wanhao almost fully pre-
constructed. This printer has its bed and printer head held within an all powered coated
steel frame. The printer is controlled by a connected controller. The printer head uses a
MK10 single-extruder that has a 0.4mm nozzle size. The bed has an interchangeable bed
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face and has heated build plate. The printer can print up to 200 by 200 by 180 mm of
build volume. The smallest layer resolution that can be used with this printer is 0.1mm
and the possible layer thickness ranges from 0.1mm to 0.5mm. The filament that can be
used with this printer must have a diameter of 1.75mm. The x-axis of this printer is
controlled by a motor and bands connected at and moving the printer head. The z-axis
is controlled by a motor that turns screws located on both sides of the frame that the
printer head is connected to. The y-axis movement is controlled by the movement of the
bed using a motor and bands connected below the bed.
The controller of the printer is connected to the rest of the printer through a CNC drag
chain. This printer has a LCD screen display and rotary knob to control and display
certain features of the printer. The controller has an usb port than can be used to
connect the controller to a computer. The controller also has a micro SD card slot that
can be used to save g-code files within the controller and printed off of without the use
of a computer.
G-code is the language that the printer controller uses to be able to tell the different
parts of the printer how to print. G-code is written in short lines of commands that use a
single letter followed by some numbers to give commands and information to the
printer. After the g-code finishes giving preprint commands (like temperature of
extruder and bed) the majority of the code can be seen to tell every motor what
direction, what speed, and how long to obtain the correct position and movement of
the print head. The position and movement information is used in conjunction with
commands to the extruder to push the filament out or in, and at what speed at what
time to create the object specified.
Host program
To control the printer using a computer, a host program must be used. The host
program used to control this printer is an open sourced free program called Repetier-
Host. This program can easily manually control the movement of the printer, fans,
extruder heating element, and bed heating element. This program has built in slicing
capabilities and can be used to upload a premade object and go straight to printing the
object with a connected printer.
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Figure 2: Homescreen of Repetier Host
3D View
Shown is the opening screen of Repetier host. In the middle of the screen is a 3-D
representation of the build volume that can be used. The size of this build volume
changes with the printer connected to the software and has to be distinguished within
user set printer settings. On the left of this screen are different tools that can be used to
control the view of the generated print area and objects. This screen can have different
tabs at the top of the image to change to show different information. Currently, the only
tabs present are the 3D view of the print area and a temperature curve that can be used
while printing to see certain temperature information.
Commonly Used Buttons

Above the image of the print area and tabs are the buttons used for connecting,
loading, and toggling the log. The connection button is what is used to connect a
printer that has already been set up using printer settings included with documentation
sent with the printer. When the program connects to a printer, the printer controller and
controller screen should restart and display all information that the computer is
controlling. The button changes color from red when disconnected to any printer to
green when connected. The load button can be used to load any g-code file or readable
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3-D object file. The toggle log button while change whether the log of communication
between the program and the printer is displayed at the bottom. This log will display
such information as certain commands sent to the printer, layer of current print, and any
errors or important information for the user.
To the right of these buttons are printer settings, easy mode, and emergency stop. The
printer settings can be adjusted here for a current printer profile already created or a
new printer profile can be created to be able to use a new printer with the program.
The printer settings menu is split up into six tabs. The first being connection settings.
Most of these settings are either automated or have to be found using documentation
of the printer. The Printer tab controls the certain settings pertaining specifically to the
printer. Included settings are some default settings that are used before any are set by
something else within the program, if temperature are checked by the host (usually
wanted), if temperature requests are shown within the log (not required), how often the
program asks for the temperature of the parts of the printer, park position (where the
print head goes to when in park in relation to home), and certain settings for what the
printer does after a job is finished. The extruder tab controls settings used for the
extruder of the printer and is set up using information found in documentation of the
printer. The printer shape tab is where the printer volume is distinguished for the printer
being used and where the home for the printer head is going to be distinguished. The
scripts and advanced tabs have settings that can be used to change g-codes created for
this printer but are fine left alone.
The easy mode button can be used to switch the program into an easier mode of use
but is going to be unnecessary once the program has been fully understood. The
emergency stop button can be pressed at any time by the user to force the printer to
stop whatever it is doing at that moment. This should be used to stop the printer from
causing any damage to itself if it needs to be stopped immediately but there are better
ways to stop the machine if you just want to cancel a print or do changes that dont
require immediate attention. Many time after the emergency stop is used the printer
may have to be disconnected and reconnected to begin to work properly again.
Object Placement
Below these buttons and to the right of the 3-D print area are the tabs that can be used
to work through the actual process of importing and printing an object. To begin to
print an object, a 3-D file model must first have been created. The two files that should
be used are either an STL file, an OBJ file, or an AMF file. The first tab found here is the
object placement tab. After an object has been imported using either the load button or
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the add object button located second from the left within the object placement tab.
Objects loaded into this tab will be put into an object group and have settings available
to change that relate to the object itself.
Figure 3: Object Placement Tab
To the left of the object name is an eyeball that will change if the object will be seen
within the 3-D view. To the right of that will be an option for what extruded will be used
to print the object but since the printer being used only has one extruder this setting
should always be one. To the right of that are some advanced settings for the object
and analyzing information. The trash can button next to that can be used to delete
objects loaded into the program. To the left of the object placement button is a save
button that can be used to save the objects loaded into the program. To the right of the
add object button is the copy objects button, this will create a copy of a selected object
and place it within the build space. Next to this button is the auto position button, this
will automatically place objects within the build space at efficient spots (as close as
possible and aligned). Next to that button is a center object button and this will center a
selected object to the center of the build space while still touching the build platform.
The next button will control scaling of an object loaded into the software. It can change
objects keeping or not keeping an aspect ratio and can also be used to scale to a
maximum size or reset to the starting size. The next button can be used to rotate the
object on any of the three axis. It is a good idea to use the lay flat option within this tab
to quickly arrange any objects loaded within the software at strange positioning. The
next button can be used to view cross sections of any objects. The last button on this
tab allows an object to be mirrored.
Slicer
Once the object or objects have all been placed and sized as wanted, a slicer must be
used to slice the object into layers and create the g-code that will be used to control
the printer to make the object. There are a few slicers that can be used but the cura
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slicing engine is a simple and powerful open sourced slicer. The second tab labeled
slicer controls all the slice setting within Repetier host. Selecting the CuraEngine slicer in
the slicer selection pulldown will bring up the settings for the cura slicer. The
configuration button will bring up all the information that can be changed within the
cura slicer. A configuration profile is created that will create a certain settings for
different requirements and situations. The main focus of these configurations are speeds
of different areas of the print, the different quality settings of the configuration, different
structure, and extrusion settings. The speed settings used for a configuration are set on
a slowest and fastest possible input. When printing an object, a percentile of difference
between slowest and fastest speed will be used to find the speed used for the specific
print being done. The qualities determined within the configuration can be selected for
the specific print being done.
The quality is one of the most important settings selected when printing because this
will decide the size of the layer heights, the smaller the height the higher the quality but
the higher the print time. The smallest layer height available for the i3 is 0.1mm but this
layer height should only be used for very high quality prints as the time will be very high
and mistakes within printing can happen with such thin printing. The standard layer
height that should be used is 0.2mm, this will create a standard quality print and will
take half the time of a 0.1mm quality print. For quick prints a layer height of 0.4mm can
be used, quality will be lower but print time will also be halved from 0.2mm quality
prints. A 0.5mm layer height is the maximum height that should be printed with the i3.
An important setting that changes with each quality is the first layer settings. The height
of the first layer is very important because one of the main determinations of a
successful print depend on how well the first layer prints and sticks to the print bed. To
create a higher success of this, the first layer should usually be thicker than other layers
if printing at normal or high quality. The width of this layer should also be changed to
help the first layer stick. Usually the width of the lines used match the size of the nozzle
of the extruder (0.4mm for the i3) but with a thicker line the plastic has a higher chance
of sticking to the layer bed.
The next tab within the cura settings is the structure tab. This tab controls settings that
will effect infill and support features of the object created. When an object is loaded
within the slicer program, it should be a fully enclosed, water tight collection of
surfaces that represent a 3-D object. These objects can be viewed as a thin wall empty
enclosure. To be able to slice and print this object the slicer program must fill in the
space that is within the enclosure of the object. For almost all 3-D prints it is not
required to print a completely filled in object so the infill is usually a mostly empty
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volume with supports and an outer layer to distinguish the object. The first parameter of
this infill is the shell thickness of the infill. The shell of an object can be distinguished by
looking at the single horizontal layer of the part.
Figure 4: The Bottom to Middle Layer of a Sliced Object
The shell of the layer is the outside lines printed out that will follow the outside surface
of the object printed. The shell thickness determines how many lines will be printed that
will follow the outside surface. In the picture shown the shell thickness is 0.8mm creating
a two line shell. The shell thickness should be set as a multiple of the nozzle size
(0.4mm) as the line width is determined by this. Generally the shell thickness should be
set either to two or three lines thick to create a solid standard structure, three or more
for more complex objects.
The next parameter is the Top/Bottom thickness. This setting changes what layers and
what parts of the layer are going to be designated as an outside layer in regards to the
top or bottom of the object.
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Figure 5: Layers of a model to distinguish top/bottom layers.
In the picture shown here, all of the layers from the bottom up to about 90% of the
layers are shown. The last of the layers that finish the top are hidden to show what the
top/bottom thickness setting will change. What can be seen from this last top layer is
three different areas. On the outside of this layer is a one line thick outer shell. The area
inside of the shell that seems to be filled in by crossing lines is the area designated by
the slicer as a part of the layer that is within the top/bottom thickness distance.
Including the height of this layer and the layers above this, at these areas, the distance
from this layer at that area to the end of the top of the object is equal to the
top/bottom thickness. This area is filled all the way in to create a good finish for any
surface that is close to the top or bottom. The amount of top/bottom thickness that
should be used is generally around 1mm. The amount of layers that will be designated
as being top or bottom will then be left up to the layer height designated for that print.
This thickness may need to be changed depending on the infill density used. The smaller
the infill density used the higher the thickness should be so that the top and bottom
have more layers to become solid and uniform. All of the area inside of this is just the
infill.
The next parameter that can be set is the infill overlap. This sets a designated amount of
the infill that will spill over and try to overlap the shell to try and create a better
connection between the infill and shell. A small number around 15% can be used for
most prints but if its noticed that the infill isnt sticking well to the shell the amount can
be increased to help with this. The next setting is a dropdown selection of the infill
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pattern, for most prints the automatic infill can be used. If a certain infill wants to be
selected then that can be done here. The grid infill will create an infill where a single
layer will have intersecting lines creating a square grid pattern, usually in a diagonal
orientation if the object is aligned with the print bed. The line infill pattern will create an
infill of lines that all follow one direction and orientation and then will change direction
to a perpendicular direction for the next layer and repeat this. The concentric pattern
infill will create an infill pattern consisting of lines that are concentric to certain points
designated by the software. None of these will ever intersect creating a very weak object
but may be best if used with spheres and cylinders.
Within the next section of settings are different parameters for creating supports. Some
complex objects will need supports to be able to print correctly. To be able to print new
layer, there has to be an existing layer beneath it to stick to. There is a certain amount of
leeway that can be given to print a shell that overhangs the previous layer. The general
rule of thumb to follow is that any angle greater than 45 degrees between the surface
and a horizontal line, should be given a support to be properly printed. This supports
can be easily be removed after the print is done. The overhang angle can be changed by
the user here to designate that if supports are turned on for a print where the supports
will be placed to help any areas that have a higher angle then the overhang angle. This
should be set to 45 but can be set higher to reduce the number of supports at a
reduced stability. The supports also have an infill density and decides how the
percentage in the infill is. The distance settings for the support will change how easy the
support can be removed from the object and how close the support gets to the object.
To help the object stick to the bed, there are certain adhesion layers that can be
automatically added to the object. These layers will be modeled after the bottom layer
of the object being printed. There are two different type of adhesion that can be used
for an object, either a raft or a brim. The brim will only create an addition to the bottom
layer of the object extending it outwards to give a higher surface that will come in
contact with the bed to try and improve sticking of the first layer. The raft will create a
small base for the object based on the bottom layer of the object. These layers will be
expanded outward of the shape of the bottom layer. There are generally around 3 layers
and this layers will be completely filled in. The brim should be used to help with prints
that only need a small amount of help. The brim is usually easy to remove from a
completed print. The raft should be used for any object that will have a great problem
sticking to the bed, such as an object with a very small amount of area for the bottom
layer. The raft is removable but is usually harder than removing a brim.
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The next tab within the cura settings pertain to the extruder settings. The important
settings here are the retraction settings used for the extruder. Retraction is something
that can be added to try and create a cleaner looking print if the print head has travel a
distance without any plastic being extruder. Usually when the extruder tries to travel
right after it finished extruding some plastic but tries to stop extruding any plastic, some
plastic will leak from the extruder and leave a trail of thin plastic in areas its not
supposed to be. The speed of the printer head and the temperature and type of
material being printed will change the amount of this plastic left behind. Retraction tries
to stop this by retracting the filament up within the extruder instead of just stopping
extraction while moving over non-printing movement. The pre-set setting are good
from most cases and dont need to be changed unless there is a high want to print parts
at faster speeds and better qualities.
The cooling settings within this tab control the nozzle fan settings. The nozzle fan is the
fan connected to the extruder and points to the end of the nozzle. It is important to
have correct cooling for a part to create the best adhesion to the bed and between
layers. It is generally wanted to have the first layer come out hotter than the other layers
so that it can have a better chance of sticking to the bed. The fan should be turned off
or at a slower speed while printing the first layer so that this can happen. Since cooling
of the first layer will cause the plastic to distort, it is also important to keep the first layer
from cooling too fast. To help with this the extruder fan should not be used at full until
it gets a fair distance away from the bottom layer. This can be set here but is generally
ok to be set at the pre-set 0.5mm unless some problems for sticking or distortion arise.
One of the other problems that can arise relates to the layers sticking to each other.
When printing it is generally wanted to have the filament printed on top of other layers
to cool fast, especially if it a slightly overhanging layer, to create a solid layer with good
interlayer adhesion. There is a general time that will be needed for a layer to cool down
to a good enough temperature before another layer can be placed on this layer. A
stronger fan can lower this time but this should be kept in mind if printing a small object
or small layer at fast speeds where layer to layer time is small (generally around a few
seconds).
The other tab within the cura engine changes settings that will relate to which type of
filament being used during a certain print. Profiles are created so that a selection for
common filaments being used can be selected quickly. The Filament diameter is the
diameter of the filament being used (1.75mm for the i3). The flow percent setting is
used as a correction factor for certain filaments. This can be changed to lower or higher
than 100 percent if a need to have a slightly more or less filament is wanted to be
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extruded. Sometimes a higher percentage flow can help prints that are having adhesion
problems. Another important use of this setting is to help with low quality filament.
Some low quality filaments dont have a uniform diameter and can range from the
diameter stated. Filament should generally be measured to be sure that the stated
diameter is the true diameter of the filament being used. If the diameter is different than
the stated amount either the previous setting of filament diameter can be changed to
that average amount or the diameter can be left and a flow percentage can make up for
the difference in diameter set and diameter being used.
A very important setting used when printing is the temperatures being used to print
with. Every type of filament has a different temperature that they should be printed at to
obtain a correctly printed part. The temperature of a filament usually has a range that
they should be printed in the then every printer has its own sweet spot for printing that
type of filament. In general PLA filament should be printed roughly around 215 Celsius,
ABS should be printed slightly higher around 225 Celsius, and CNT filament should be
printed around 235 Celsius. These temperatures are pretty flexible and can have
different effects on different printers and print jobs but usually a range of + or 10
degrees should be kept. The temperature of the bed is also important for different
filaments to print correctly and have adhesion to the bed. For PLA, a comparatively
cooler bed temperature around 50 Celsius can be used to help adhesion and for most
prints a non-heated bed can be used. For ABS and the CNT filaments, a heated bed is
required to have adhesion between the bed and the filament. It is generally
recommended to have a bed temperature between 90 Celsius and 110 Celsius.
Once a full configuration has been set and selected for a print only a few settings should
need to be changed for specific prints. Back on the Slicer settings outside of the
CuraEngine configuration screen, the two options that are highly part and print based
are the speed and infill density. The speed can range from the configured lowest and
fastest speed set in the profile configuration. In general the slower speed will create a
nicer part with less deformations but a fast speed can be used to lower print times for
simple objects or testing prints. The infill density is what will change how much material
will be printed within the infill of the part. The density ranges from 0 percent, no infill, to
100 percent, an infill that has no gaps and is the same as the top and bottom thickness
areas. For most parts an infill density of 20 to 30 percent is fine to have a sturdy object.
If the top layers are not coming out as nice as expected, raising the top/bottom
thickness and raising the infill density will create a better finish. It is recommended to
use the 20 to 30 percent infill density to also save on time and amount of material used,
especially for large objects.
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Print Preview
Once all the settings have been set, the slicer can be run on the object or objects placed.
Once the slicer is finished it will automatically take the user to the print preview tab. On
this tab are a few buttons that can be pressed. The Print button will take the g-code
created by the slicer and begin feeding it to the printer to print the object. The edit g-
code would let the user manually see and edit the g-code created, this is almost never
required to do for a print. The save to file button will save a g-code that can be reloaded
into the software. The save for SD print will save the g-code but with the required
additions so that the g-code can be run from the controller straight from the SD card if
it is inserted within the controller.
The different information on this screen can help with decisions to check and see if the
print is what was wanted and sufficient for a good print. If the printing time seems to be
high, some settings returning to the slicer tab and change some options can change the
print time, usually lower for less quality or possible a longer time for a higher quality.
The layer count, total lines, and filament needed can give an insight into how big and
how much material will be used to create this object. The visualization tools can show
many things that can let the user inspect every layer and aspect of their print. The show
travel move option will show the movement of the nozzle head for the layers selected
for viewing. The show complete code will show the entire print and all layers. The single
layer option allows the selection of a single layer to be viewed and the show layer range
can show specified layer range from a first layer to a last layer.
Manual Control
The Manual control tab will show users an interface that can be used to manually
control the printer connected. At the top of the interface is the position of the printer
head given in real time. If the printer hasnt been homed yet, the positions will be given
in red. Homing the head requires the controller to move the printer head to its
designated home positions, the home position usually being at the minimum position
for each dimension. Below the position indicators are the motors, homing, and extruder
controls. The directional pad on the left while control the movement of the x and y axis
motors, x-axis being left and right and y-axis being up and down. Distance moved is
varied from greater on the outside to smaller distances in the center. All the house
buttons surrounding this pad will control homing commands. With homes with an axis
labeled will home only the axis shown. The home on the bottom left with no axis
indication will home all the axis at once. The next control will control the z-axis
movement. The controller next to this will control the extruder. Pushing the top button
of this controller will retract the filament within the extruder and pushing down will
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extract filament. Below all these controllers are settings that are printer specific. When
the i3 is connected the main settings that can be seen are the federate, the fan speed,
the bed temperature, and the extruder temperature. The federate setting will change the
movement on a percentage base of a g-code being used to print. Usually being left at
100% is recommended unless a slower print is quickly requested without the need to re-
slice the object. The fan setting will the control the nozzle fan speed on a percentage
base. The bed temperature and extruder can be set at a predetermined temperature and
can greatly help the time of a print. When a print is set to the printer controller, the first
lines of g-code created rehome the print head and then tell the printer what
temperature the bed and extruder need to be. The g-code can only control one
temperature at a time, so the bed must heat up all the way first and then the extruder
will heat up. This can take some time if none of the components have been preheated
and high temperatures are being used. If the print bed is set to temperatures higher
than 90 Celsius it can take up to 10 minutes to reach this from room temperature. To set
the printer to preheat, the icons on the left will designate whether the options are being
controlled at the moment. If there is a line crossing out the icon then that option is not
being controlled or preheated by the host program. Click on the icon to remove the line
and take control of that setting using the host.
When controlling the heat of either the print bed or the extruder, the temperature curve
figure that can be selected by switching to the tab labeled Temperature Curve in the 3D
view window can give very detailed time dependent information. This figure is separated
into three different figures. The top is an overall graph of all things happening. The
graph under this will show the temperature of the extruder in a certain time section and
the percentage of the heater being used. The graph under this labeled output bed does
the same as the extruder graph except for the bed.
SD Card
The last tab that can be seen is the SD card tab. This is just a tab that can be used to
easily upload, download, manage, and run any g-code files in use with an SD card
connected to the computer. With a file uploaded to the SD card and then inserted into
the printer controller. The printer will recognize each individual g-code file and can run
each file independently of a host program.
When a print is happening, the host program shows some different settings and buttons
that relate to the print. At the top of the program, a button for killing and pausing the
print will show up. The kill print will end the print but wont do it immediately. This is the
main difference between the kill print button and the emergency stop button. The kill
print will finish out the lines of g-code that have been sent to the controller and then
15
send an end print g-code to the controller. The pause print button can be used to
temporarily suspend the print being done, this can be done if there is any problem
happening with the print that can be quickly fixed, such as the filament needs to be
reloaded into the extruder. The pause print command does state that it will return to the
correct position when un-paused and continue printing but many times the print
doesnt start at the correct position. The printer head should only be moved during a
pause print if necessary to fix the print being done.
16
Speciman Characterization
When adding Carbon nanotubes to the filament of an ABS plastic, certain characteristics
are changed. Shown below are images of filament of a standard ABS filament and then a
CNT composite filament made with ABS and carbon nanotubes created with Scanning
Electron Microscopy.
Figure 6: Scanning Electron Microscope image of the cross section of an ABS filament.
Figure 7:Scanning Electron Microsope image of the cross section of an CNT composite
filament.
17
From these images, some certain characteristics can be seem. First, even though both
fibers were sheared using a sharp blade, the plastic has mostly solid continuous surfaces
left on its cross section. The cross section of the CNT seems have a somewhat porous
cross sectoin with somewhat flaky and cavernous cross section left. The other
characterizatoin that can be seen comes from the method the SEM uses to take these
images. Since the image was created using secondary electrons from the surface, the
ABS filament creates a much darker image on the majority of its surface. The brightness
of the surface of the CNT cross section indicates the higher conductivity that is found
within the CNT filament.
Figure 8: Scanning Electron Microscope image of the Cross Section of a part printed
with CNT Composite Filament
In figure 8 it can be seen that the 3-D printing process is not a perfect manufacturing
process. The surface that is located on the bottom of the cross section was the section
that was touching the print bed. This is the only surface that comes out generally flat.
While printing, between every line printed, there will be some cleave found between
them. It some areas the print connects better to the filament printed around it yet the
section at the top left of the print has a massive gap between the printed lines. In
general, the interlayer adhesion in most prints is low. The strength of all prints are going
to be lower in the direction of the z-axis compared to the x and y-axis since these are
less dependent of layer adhesion.
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Testing
Scanning Electron Microscopy
The use of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) can give us an accurate picture of the
cross section, topography, and composition. A focused beam of electrons are shot at the
sample. These electrons interact with the atoms of the sample and backscatter electrons
can be seen by the secondary electron detector. With this data, a software can analyze
the data and create an image with the field of view down to around a nanometer across.
To use the scanning electron microscope we prepped some of the mounting stubs used
within the SEM. To do this they were first cleaned and then a small film of carbon tape
was attached to the sample surface. The stubs we used had a sample surface tilted to a
45 degree angle so that we could specifically look at the cross section of our samples.
We used a razor blade and a mallet to cut off a piece of both of our heated and
unheated samples small enough to fit within the surface of the stub. They were
positioned so that the freshly cut side was placed along the edge of the top of the
surface to give the best and easiest view.
These stubs were then placed within the SEM. Precautions need to be taken when doing
this because the SEM is very sensitive with foreign particles within the enclosed chamber
from the need of a vacuum sealed chamber. After the SEM is ready with all samples
within, the base holding all the stubs needs to be moved within place to see the exact
view needed. When the view is correct, manipulation of zoom and focus can create a
precise image of what is needed, for us the cross section of our samples.
Tensile Testing
To test the strength and stiffness of composites, the use of tensile testing using
dogbones was needed. A dogbone sample was created within Solidworks and then
loaded into the host software. The same printer settings and print settings, other than
temperature of extruder and bed temperature, were used. A dog bone sample of ABS
plastic and CNT composite were created and this were used within a tensile testing
machine. This machine created measurable load within the sample. Then a Linear
Variable Differential Transformer was used to measure the change in length of the
samples. With this data, Stress and Strain could be found for the samples.
19
Data Analysis
Summary of Test Results
Using the data found from the tensile tests run on the samples, some mechanical
properties can be seen to change between the samples. Both samples had an area at the
beginning of the test were there was a big strain change with little stress. This can be
brought on by the characteristics or a part printed within 3-D printing. There are many
gaps and loss areas that will be pulled into position and causes stretching until the
object begins to resist deformation. It can be seen that the CNT composite has a slightly
higher youngs modulus, maximum strength, and failure point. It has been known that
using CNT would improve these mechanical properties but they change so little within
the 3-D printed part that it is seen as a marginal difference.
Tensile Test Graphs
CNT Composite Tensile Test

35
30
25
20
Stress (Psi)
15
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
-5
Strain (in/in)
Figure 9: Tensile Test Data from dog bone printed with CNT Composite
20
ABS Filament Tensile Test

30
25
20
Strain (psi)
15
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
-5
Strain (in/in)
Figure 10: Tensile Test Data from dog bone printed with ABS filament
21
Summary and Conclusions

With the changes happening to 3-D printing in the recent years, 3-D printing will
continue to become a more common process in the manufacturing field. The cost of
printer are continually being reduced, making them more available for use in many
applications. After understanding the programs used to control a 3-D printer, anyone
can create 3-D printed models out of whatever could be imagined. The ability to create
a unique single part at any time will reduce many limitations within manufacturing
abilities. The use of Carbon Nanotubes within filament has great interest in the uses of
its mechanical properties. Even though it only slightly increases strength, the changes in
other mechanical properties are useful. It may be possible that with more research that
the strength adding properties could be raised by changing CNT density or using other
creation processes. The use of any graphene based structures within composites and
then to be 3-D printed is a technology of great potential and should be continued to be
researched with great interest.
22
Works Cited
Title Page image: http://www.drivespark.com/four-wheelers/2015/carbon-nanotube-
could-replace-carbon-fibre-010614.html
[1] http://www.wanhao3dprinter.com/Unboxin/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=70
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3-d Printer Project Report

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3-D Printing with Carbon Nanotube

3-D Printing Process and Set Up

Figure 1. Wanhao Duplicator i3 Desktop 3-D Printer

Figure 2: Homescreen of Repetier Host

Commonly Used Buttons

Figure 3: Object Placement Tab

Figure 4: The Bottom to Middle Layer of a Sliced Object

Figure 5: Layers of a model to distinguish top/bottom layers.

Tensile Test Graphs

CNT Composite Tensile Test

ABS Filament Tensile Test

Summary and Conclusions

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