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Improving the thickness distribution of parts with hybrid thermoforming

  • Fernando M. Duarte EMAIL logo , Catarina G. Ribeiro , João G. Ferreira , Sílvia A. Forte and José A. Covas
Published/Copyright: July 14, 2022
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International Polymer Processing
From the journal International Polymer Processing Volume 37 Issue 4

Abstract

With the aim of improving the thickness gradient of thermoformed parts, and thus increase their performance and/or reduce their weight, the concept of hybrid thermoforming is introduced, whereby local thickness differences in extruded sheets are created prior to thermoforming. Material is removed by CO2 ablation or 3D printing of an over-thickness at specific locations of sheets previously extruded. The feasibility and potential usefulness of the approach is explored experimentally for the production of a truncated conical cup, since this is a well-characterized application. The conventional thickness distributions obtained by conventional vacuum forming are significantly changed with the new strategy and can be tuned by adequately selecting the locations and amount of material do be removed and/or added.

Keywords: CO2 laser ablation; fused filament fabrication; hybrid thermoforming; thickness distribution
Corresponding author: Fernando M. Duarte, Department of Polymer Engineering, Institute for Polymer and Composites, University of Minho, Guimaraes, Portugal, E-mail:

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: This research was supported by FCT, Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 Programme (Grant Number: UID-B/05256/2020) and COMPETE 2020 Programme. Project MORPH-ING.TECH – Direct digital Manufacturing of automatic programmable and Continuously adaptable patterned surfaces with a discrete and padronized composition (Grant Number: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-033408).

  3. Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

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Received: 2022-04-09
Accepted: 2022-06-16
Published Online: 2022-07-14
Published in Print: 2022-09-27

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Special issue for John Vlachopoulos
  4. Review Article
  5. Calendering of thermoplastics: models and computations
  6. Special Issue Contributions
  7. Film casting of polycarbonate/multi-walled carbon nanotubes composites using ultrasound-assisted twin-screw extruder: experiment and simulation
  8. Effect of mixing conditions and polymer particle size on the properties of polypropylene/graphite nanoplatelets micromoldings
  9. Extrusion foaming of linear and branched polypropylenes – input of the thermomechanical analysis of pressure drop in the die
  10. Improving the thickness distribution of parts with hybrid thermoforming
  11. Synergistic material extrusion 3D-printing using core–shell filaments containing polycarbonate-based material with different glass transition temperatures and viscosities
  12. TPU-based porous heterostructures by combined techniques
  13. Surfactant-free oil-in-oil emulsion-templating of polyimide aerogel foams
  14. Factors determining the flow erosion/part deformation of film insert molded thermoplastic products
  15. The extrusion of EPDM using an external gear pump: experiments and simulations
  16. News
  17. PPS News
https://doi.org/10.1515/ipp-2022-4222
Keywords for this article
CO2 laser ablation; fused filament fabrication; hybrid thermoforming; thickness distribution

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Special issue for John Vlachopoulos
  4. Review Article
  5. Calendering of thermoplastics: models and computations
  6. Special Issue Contributions
  7. Film casting of polycarbonate/multi-walled carbon nanotubes composites using ultrasound-assisted twin-screw extruder: experiment and simulation
  8. Effect of mixing conditions and polymer particle size on the properties of polypropylene/graphite nanoplatelets micromoldings
  9. Extrusion foaming of linear and branched polypropylenes – input of the thermomechanical analysis of pressure drop in the die
  10. Improving the thickness distribution of parts with hybrid thermoforming
  11. Synergistic material extrusion 3D-printing using core–shell filaments containing polycarbonate-based material with different glass transition temperatures and viscosities
  12. TPU-based porous heterostructures by combined techniques
  13. Surfactant-free oil-in-oil emulsion-templating of polyimide aerogel foams
  14. Factors determining the flow erosion/part deformation of film insert molded thermoplastic products
  15. The extrusion of EPDM using an external gear pump: experiments and simulations
  16. News
  17. PPS News
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