SHAP3D, a National Science Foundation and industry funded research center, brings the innovative research capabilities of leading universities to serve the diverse interests of industry, government, and academia to address fundamental research challenges to meet the commercial needs of industry for heterogeneous 3D printing of materials. SHAP3D will accelerate expansion and competitiveness of the domestic AM industry and its customers by addressing two critical market needs: (1) the growth of AM into more complex topologies, heterogeneous, and multi-functional applications that command high margins commensurate with their increased performance, and (2) the expansion of AM into lower margin industries via order-of-magnitude improvements in throughput, material-per-performance cost reductions, and ease-of-use design rules that enable industry to rapidly adopt advanced techniques.
The Center has projects in Topology Optimization, Simulation-based Design for 3D Printing of Shape Changing Components, Multi-material Digital Light Processing (DLP)-based 3D Printing, Fused Deposition Manufacturing of Multiple Materials (FD3M), Conductive Polymer Blends for 3D Printing, Machine Learning-Enabled In-Process Defect Detection, Printing of Fully Compounded Thermoset Elastomers, Effects of Polymer Crystallization on Powder-Bed based 3D Printing, Foam 3D Printing, and 3D Printing of Sensor Arrays for Chemical and Biological Agents. This Flexinar will provide a concise overview of the center’s mission, operation, and research.