Material Extrusion (Coursera)

Material Extrusion (Coursera)

This course is a deep dive into the most commonly used method of additive manufacturing: material extrusion. We specifically examine the fused deposition modeling process, and then look at the related composite extrusion process which can extrude a continuous fiber (such as carbon fiber) along with a thermoplastic.

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The necessary elements for each course are lecture videos, knowledge checks, and project completion. For additional information on certain topics, I've included supplemental readings and videos throughout various lessons that might enhance your knowledge. Because all resources are not available to all students, these materials are optional.
In addition, you will note that some of the lectures feature our department’s graduate students. These excellent students are sometimes closer to the material, having learned it recently, so we greatly appreciate their participation in the instructional process.

What You Will Learn
Students will identify the two ways in which to 3D print using the material extrusion process.

Course 2 of 5 in the Additive Manufacturing Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Course Introduction
This course is a deep dive into the most commonly used method of additive manufacturing: material extrusion. We specifically examine the fused deposition modeling process, and then look at the related composite extrusion process which can extrude a continuous fiber (such as carbon fiber) along with a thermoplastic. The necessary elements for each course are lecture videos, knowledge checks, and project completion. For additional information on certain topics, I've included supplemental readings and videos throughout various lessons that might enhance your knowledge. Because all resources are not available to all students, these materials are optional. In addition, you will note that some of the lectures feature our department’s graduate students. These excellent students are sometimes closer to the material, having learned it recently, so we greatly appreciate their participation in the instructional process.

WEEK 2
Module 2.1: Fused Deposition Modeling
This module introduces you to fused deposition modeling.

WEEK 3
Module 2.2: Composite Extrusion
This module introduces you to composite extrusion. We will be working with Markforged equipment, but some of the concepts of embedding continuous fibers are relevant for other composite extrusion machines as well.

WEEK 4
Module 2.3: Course Project and Wrap-Up
A key difference in most additive manufacturing processes from their traditional counterparts is that they tend to have rougher surfaces. Further, the roughness of 3D printed surfaces can be dependent on the print orientation. In this module you will analyze data obtained from an experiment to characterize surface roughness from fused deposition modeling surfaces at different orientations.

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