Term of Award

Fall 2021

Degree Name

Master of Science in Applied Engineering (M.S.A.E.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Manufacturing Engineering

Committee Chair

Haijun Gong

Committee Member 1

Dean Snelling

Committee Member 2

JingJing Qing

Abstract

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing parts are widely used in aerospace, medical and many other industrial fields. With the introduction of metal filament, fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology provides a new approach of 3D printing metal parts, especially for lightweight or lattice structures. This study conducts preliminary research on FDM 3D printing metal lattice structures, with the purpose of validating the process applicability. The maximum overhang angle for FDM green part is studied to extend the borders of “45o rule” for 3D printing parts without adding supports. The influences of printing parameters on the debinding process are analyzed, and insights are provided on designing metal FDM 3D printing lattice parts with specific unit cells. Finally, the shrinkage rate of metal FDM printed parts is summarized and analyzed. In addition, the production cost of metal 3D printing lattice is of great interest for industry. Hence, this study compares the economics and some part defects of the metal FDM process and selective laser melting process (a powder-bed-fusion based AM process), through fabricating selected lattice structures. The advantages and disadvantages of the two methods are summarized, and guidance is proposed on choosing the appropriate 3D printing processes for production.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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Available for download on Monday, November 30, 2026

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