Development of A Prototype Material Extrusion/ Laser Deposition System with In-Process Monitoring and Control

This project will focus on the development of an affordable and functional system to extrude various polymers into a filament for use in fused filament fabrication 3D printers. This system would allow consumers to create consistent and reliable extruded material from a variety of polymers and/or hydro-gels in a small desktop setting. The flow and temperature control during material extrusion or material jetting should be monitored with an in-process monitoring experimental set-up and correlated to the extruded thickness of the material shape and size and other properties using image processing and machine learning techniques.