Numerical modeling and simulation of material extrusion-based 3-D printing processes with a material point method framework

In this study, a numerical framework based on the material point method is presented for the simulation of material extrusion (MEX)-based 3-D printing processes. The melt flow during material extrusion is assumed to be viscous flow including phase changes. To apply the free surface boundary conditions, the framework utilizes the level set method to track the free surface and the ghost fluid method for the application of the boundary conditions. For validation, three representative problems are first investigated to show the versatility of the model. Then, the numerical framework is adapted for the simulation of material extrusion (MEX) based 3-D printing processes. An in-depth parametric study is presented to show how printing parameters affect the overall extruded printing material.