A Novel Construct to Perform In Situ Deformation Measurements of Material Extrusion-Fabricated Structures

Material extrusion is an additive manufacturing modality that continues to show great promise in the ability to create low cost, highly intricate, and exceedingly useful structural elements. As more capable and versatile filament materials are devised and the resolution of manufacturing systems continues to increase, the need to understand and predict manufacturing-induced warping will gain ever greater importance. The following study presents a novel in situ remote sensing and data analysis construct that allows for the in situ mapping and quantification of surface displacements induced by residual stresses on specified test structures. This proof-of-concept experimental process shows that it is possible to provide designers and manufacturers with insight into the manufacturing parameters that lead to these deformations, with a greater understanding of the behavior of these warping events over the course of the manufacturing process.