Novel Multilayer Material Adhesion Test for Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing is a growing area of advanced manufacturing (AM) and is comprised of joining multiple layers of materials to build up an object. There are various AM processes but many of them have risks of ensuring that the interfacial bonds between layers are sufficient. A material can potentially be insufficiently bonded at the layer interface creating a threat of delamination and material failure. Current test methods to prove a process and material design are capable are insufficient as they were not designed for additive materials. Existing adhesion tests were designed for single layer coatings not multilayer materials where dozens or hundreds of layers may be present. Other mechanical testing methods are designed for bulk material properties rather than to test the material behavior at the interfacial layers. A test method called the push-pin test has been developed for ultrasonic additive manufacturing (UAM) to characterize multilayer delamination. This proposal is to research this test’s ability to obtain repeatable and reproducible test results, to compare the test results to bulk material not made by additive methods, and analyze its use to characterize materials made by other manufacturing methods, e.g., FFF or other extrusion-based AM, CBAM, or non-additive lamellar composites.