TY - JOUR A1 - Zocca, Andrea A1 - Gomes, Cynthia A1 - Linow, Ulf A1 - Marx, Heidi A1 - Melcher, J A1 - Colombo, P A1 - Günster, Jens T1 - Structural optimization of printed structures by self-organized relaxation N2 - Purpose – This paper aims to present an additive manufacturing-based approach in which a new strategy for a thermally activated local melting and material flow, which results in densification of printed structures, is introduced. Design/methodology/approach – For enabling this self-organized relaxation of printed objects by the viscous flow of material, two interconnected structures are printed simultaneously in one printing process, namely, Structure A actually representing the three dimensional object to be built and Structure B acting as a material reservoir for infiltrating Structure A. In an additional process step, subsequent to the printing job, an increase in the objects’ temperature results in the melting of the material reservoir B and infiltration of structure A. Findings – A thermally activated local melting of the polymethylsilsesquioxane results in densification of the printed structures and the local formation of structures with minimum surface area. Originality/value – The present work introduces an approach for the local relaxation of printed three-dimensional structures by the viscous flow of the printed material, without the loss of structural integrity of the structure itself. This approach is not restricted only to the materials used, but also offers a more general strategy for printing dense structures with a surface finish far beyond the volumetric resolution of the 3D printing process. KW - Printing KW - 3D PY - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-07-2014-0087 SN - 1355-2546 VL - 22 IS - 2 SP - 344 EP - 349 PB - Emerald AN - OPUS4-37447 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chi, Jinchun A1 - Zocca, Andrea A1 - Agea Blanco, Boris A1 - Melcher, J. A1 - Sparenberg, M. A1 - Günster, Jens T1 - 3D Printing of Self-Organizing Structural Elements for Advanced Functional Structures N2 - A shape evolution approach based on the thermally activated self-organization of 3D printed parts into minimal surface area structures is presented. With this strategy, the present communication opposes currently established additive manufacturing strategies aiming to stipulate each individual volumetric element (voxel) of a part. Instead, a 3D structure is roughly defined in a 3D printing process, with all its advantages, and an externally triggered self-organization allows the formation of structural elements with a definition greatly exceeding the volumetric resolution of the printing process. For enabling the self-organization of printed objects by viscous flow of material, functionally graded structures are printed as rigid frame and melting filler. This approach uniquely combines the freedom in design, provided by 3D printing, with the mathematical formulation of minimal surface structures and the knowledge of the physical potentials governing self-organization, to overcome the paradigm which strictly orrelates the geometrical definition of 3D printed parts to the volumetric resolution of the printing process. Moreover, a transient liquid phase allows local programming of functionalities, such as the alignment of functional particles, by means of electric or magnetic fields. KW - Additive Manufacturing KW - Self-Assembly KW - 3D-Printing KW - Polymeric Materials PY - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.201800003 SN - 2365-709X VL - 3 IS - 5 SP - 1800003-1 EP - 1800003-7 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-45714 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lüchtenborg, Jörg A1 - Kober, D. A1 - Weber, A. P. A1 - Melcher, J. A1 - Günster, Jens T1 - Textured dense zinc oxide layers for active noise canceling windows N2 - Dense ZnO films with a strong c‐axis texture have been deposited on transparent conductive oxide glass, glass, and Si wafers, respectively, with a two‐step pressureless wet chemical method using zinc acetate dihydrate as Zn‐precursor. The crystallographic structure of the films has been studied with XRD and scanning electron microscopy. Optical measurements reveal a high transparency of the ZnO films with a thickness of up to 10 μm. This new cost‐effective route for ZnO film deposition does not require expensive sophisticated equipment and is easily upscaled. KW - ZnO PY - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.15928 SN - 0002-7820 VL - 102 IS - 3 SP - 988 EP - 996 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-47519 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zocca, Andrea A1 - Lüchtenborg, Jörg A1 - Mühler, T. A1 - Wilbig, Janka A1 - Mohr, Gunther A1 - Villatte, T. A1 - Léonard, Fabien A1 - Nolze, Gert A1 - Sparenberg, M. A1 - Melcher, J. A1 - Hilgenberg, Kai A1 - Günster, Jens T1 - Enabling the 3D Printing of Metal Components in μ-Gravity N2 - As humanity contemplates manned missions to Mars, strategies need to be developed for the design and operation of hospitable environments to safely work in space for years. The supply of spare parts for repair and replacement of lost equipment will be one key need, but in-space manufacturing remains the only option for a timely supply. With high flexibility in design and the ability to manufacture ready-to-use components directly from a computeraided model, additive manufacturing (AM) technologies appear extremely attractive. For the manufacturing of metal parts, laser-beam melting is the most widely used AM process. However, the handling of metal powders in the absence of gravity is one prerequisite for its successful application in space. A gas flow throughout the powder bed is successfully applied to compensate for missing gravitational forces in microgravity experiments. This so-called gas-flow-assisted powder deposition is based on a porous Building platform acting as a filter for the fixation of metal particles in a gas flow driven by a pressure difference maintained by a vacuum pump. KW - Additive manufacturing KW - µ-gravity KW - Laser beam melting KW - Parabolic flight KW - 3D printing PY - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-492190 SP - 1900506 PB - WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH AN - OPUS4-49219 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -