ElectroSphere: Electrical Electronics Engineering Bulletin
Material Extrusion (MEX) Based Additive Manufacturing with Highly Filled Carbon Polymer Compounds
Abstract
Markus Sturm
Today highly filled carbon compounds are used in special applications with the need for high electric or thermal conductivity at high chemical resistance processed only by conventional manufacturing technologies. The additive manufacturing of highly filled carbon polymer compounds enables new possibilities in design, prototyping and manufacturing on demand in these fields of application. Recent studies either concentrate on additive manufacturing of compound composites with low electric conductivity or high mechanical stability.
This paper investigates the electric conductivity in special of different carbon compound formulations with filler share rates of up to 80%. This paper also shows material behavior, influence factors and challenges in the use with material extrusion. The results of investigations lead to new insights and conclusions for product design and material processing in additive manufacturing of highly filled carbon compounds. The process shown in this work has the potential for application in industrial additive manufacturing of carbon products like graphite bipolar plates used in hydrogen fuel cells. This automatically leads to new innovations in these fields of application due to the potential of additive manufacturing in general.