Development of composite materials by rapid prototyping technology using FDM method

This paper is a study in enhancing the scope of application of Rapid Prototyping (RP) parts through deposition or plating of thin metallic foils. The RP technology that is chosen for this study is fused deposition modelling (FDM) and the RP material on which plating is carried out is the thermoplastic material known as ABS. Through electroless and electrolytic deposition of nickel layers over the ABS specimens, improvements with respect to strength and toughness are evaluated through experimental means. ABS test samples are coated with nickel layers of varying thickness (10 microns to 100 microns). Characterisation tests such as tensile and flexural tests are conducted on test specimens in both un-coated and coated conditions. Tensile strength of the coated specimen is found to be 47% more than the uncoated specimen. The important result of this project work is enabling the use of RP parts directly in the engineering applications related to aeronautical and automotive industries.