Additively manufacturing fluorine-containing polymers

Abstract

A system and method of additively manufacturing a part including electrically conductive or static dissipating fluorine-containing polymers. The method includes depositing fluorine-containing polymer additive manufacturing material onto a build platform, selectively cross-linking portions of the deposited additive manufacturing material, and curing the selectively cross-linked portions such that the part is at least one of electrically conductive and static dissipating.

Having thus described various embodiments of the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent includes the following: 
     
         1 . An additive manufacturing system for forming a part via additive manufacturing, the additive manufacturing system comprising:
 a build platform configured to support the part as it is formed;   an additive manufacturing material reserve that retains an additive manufacturing material including fluorine-containing polymers being at least one of electrically conductive and static dissipating and a supplemental material including at least one of graphite, graphene, and carbon;   a functional material reserve that retains a functional material configured to promote mixing of the fluorine-containing polymers with the supplemental material when added to the additive manufacturing material;   a mixer downstream of the additive manufacturing material reserve and the functional material reserve, the mixer being configured to selectively add the functional material to the additive manufacturing material to form an additive manufacturing material mixture;   a material depositor downstream of the mixer, the material depositor being configured to deposit the additive manufacturing material mixture onto the build platform; and   an energizer source configured to selectively cross-link portions of the deposited additive manufacturing material mixture such that the part is at least one of electrically conductive and static dissipating.   
     
     
         2 . The additive manufacturing system, wherein the additive manufacturing system is at least one of a stereolithography system and a powder bed printing system. 
     
     
         3 . The additive manufacturing system of  claim 1 , wherein the additive manufacturing system is at least one of an extrusion system and a fused filament fabrication system. 
     
     
         4 . (canceled) 
     
     
         5 . The additive manufacturing system of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the at least one of graphite, graphene, and carbon is saturated in the mixture.   
     
     
         6 . (canceled) 
     
     
         7 . The additive manufacturing system of  claim 1 , wherein the additive manufacturing system is configured to add the functional material to the mixture according to an electronic circuit pattern. 
     
     
         8 . The additive manufacturing system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of electrical conductivity and a static dissipative quality is homogenous throughout the additive manufacturing material. 
     
     
         9 . A method of forming a part via additive manufacturing, the method comprising the steps of:
 depositing additive manufacturing material onto a build platform, the additive manufacturing material including fluorine-containing polymers being at least one of electrically conductive and static dissipating;   selectively cross-linking portions of the deposited additive manufacturing material; and   curing the selectively cross-linked portions such that the part is at least one of electrically conductive and static dissipating.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the step of selectively cross-linking portions of the deposited additive manufacturing material includes directing an energy source at the portions of the deposited additive manufacturing material according to a computer-aided design. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the steps of depositing the additive manufacturing material and selectively cross-linking portions of the deposited additive manufacturing material are performed simultaneously via fused filament fabrication. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising the step of mixing at least one of graphite, graphene, and carbon with the fluorine-containing polymers to form a mixture. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising saturating the mixture with the at least one of graphite, graphene, and carbon. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising the step of adding a functional material that enhances mixing of the at least one of graphite, graphene, and carbon with the fluorine-containing polymers. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising selectively adding the functional material to the mixture according to an electronic circuit pattern. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein at least one of electrical conductivity and a static dissipative quality is homogenous throughout the cured additive manufacturing material. 
     
     
         17 . A stereolithographic additive manufacturing system for forming a part via additive manufacturing, the additive manufacturing system comprising:
 a build platform configured to support an additive manufacturing material thereon, the additive manufacturing material being a mixture including fluorine-containing polymers being at least one of electrically conductive and static dissipating, and at least one of graphite, graphene, and carbon;   an energy source configured to selectively cross-link portions of the additive manufacturing material; and   a cure device configured to cure the additive manufacturing material such that the part is at least one of electrically conductive and static dissipating.   
     
     
         18 . The stereolithographic additive manufacturing system of  claim 17 , wherein the mixture further includes a functional material for enhancing mixing. 
     
     
         19 . The stereolithographic additive manufacturing system of  claim 17 , wherein the additive manufacturing system is configured to selectively add the functional material to the mixture according to an electronic circuit pattern. 
     
     
         20 . The stereolithographic additive manufacturing system of  claim 17 , wherein at least one of electrical conductivity and a static dissipative quality is homogenous throughout the cured additive manufacturing material. 
     
     
         21 . An additive manufacturing system for forming a part via additive manufacturing, the additive manufacturing system comprising:
 a build platform configured to support the part as it is formed;   an additive manufacturing material reserve that retains an additive manufacturing material including fluorine-containing polymers being at least one of electrically conductive and static dissipating and a supplemental material including at least one of graphite, graphene, and carbon;   a functional material reserve that retains a functional material configured to promote mixing of the fluorine-containing polymers with the supplemental material when added to the additive manufacturing material;   a mechanical mixer downstream of the additive manufacturing material reserve and the functional material reserve, the mechanical mixer being configured to selectively add the functional material to the additive manufacturing material to form an additive manufacturing material mixture;   a material depositor downstream of the mixer, the material depositor being configured to deposit the additive manufacturing material mixture onto the build platform;   a laser configured to selectively cross-link portions of the deposited additive manufacturing material mixture; and   a processor communicatively coupled to the mechanical mixer, the material depositor, and the laser, the processor being configured to:
 instruct the mechanical mixer to selectively add the functional material to the additive manufacturing material according to computer-aided design (CAD) data of an electronic circuit pattern; 
 instruct the material depositor to deposit the additive manufacturing material mixture onto the build platform and previously constructed layers according to the CAD data; and 
 instruct the laser to trace over deposited layers according to the CAD data such that portions of the part are at least one of electrically conductive and static dissipating. 
   
     
     
         22 . The additive manufacturing system of  claim 21 , the material depositor being configured to print strands of additive manufacturing material mixture in a lattice structure pattern. 
     
     
         23 . The additive manufacturing system of  claim 21 , further comprising a dryer configured to dry the part. 
     
     
         24 . The additive manufacturing system of  claim 21 , further comprising a heater configured to heat cure the additive manufacturing material mixture.