Integrating UC and FDM to Create a Support Materials Deposition System

Currently there is no automated deposition system available for support materials in Ultrasonic Consolidation. Support materials are important to the UC technology because of the benefits that can be geometrically achieved. Without an integrated support materials system many geometries and features will be impossible to create. This paper describes the approach taken to integrate UC and FDM in order to automatically deposit materials as a support in a UC machine. This includes the process setup, design, and planning. Finally a build process integrating the two machines is shown to demonstrate that automated support material deposition in UC is possible.