Additive Manufacturing (AM), popularly called “3D printing,” has benefited from many two-dimensional (2D) printing technology developments, but has yet to fully exploit the potential of digital printing techniques. The very essence of AM is accurately forming individual layers and laminating them together. One of the best commercially proven methods for forming complex powder layers is laser printing, which has yet to be used to directly print three-dimensional (3D) objects above the microscale, despite significant endeavour. The core discovery of this PhD is that the electrostatic charge on toner particles, which enables the digital material patterning capabilities of 2D laser printing/photocopying, is disabling for building defect-free 3D objects after the manner attempted to date. Toner charge is not mostly neutralized with fusing as previously assumed. This work characterizes and substantiates the accumulation of residual toner charge as a primary cause for defects arising in 3D printed bodies. Next, various means are assessed to manage and neutralize residual toner charge. Finally, the complementary implementation of charge neutralization with electrostatic transfer methods is explored.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:595758 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Jones, Jason Blair |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/59733/ |
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