A widely recognized problem observed in direct write (DW) additive manufacturing (AM) is the inability to print highly viscous materials, such as clay or viscous pastes with high solids content. In this work, an additive manufacturing technique, known as vibration-assisted printing (VAP), is characterized and evaluated for its ability to print highly viscous materials (> 10,000 Pa⋅s). After demonstrating the ability to print highly viscous materials with fine resolution (nozzle diameter = 500 μm) and fast print speeds (≥ 4000 mm/min), various print characterization tests are completed to analyze the VAP process’ capabilities in terms of print resolution, layer consistency, corner turning, and minimum feature size, using a representative highly viscous material, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) modeling clay. Analysis of the characterization samples provided insights into which aspects of the material and process parameters need to be closely monitored to ensure accurate material deposition, a vital step towards producing functional components. Once print characterization was complete, mechanical test samples were printed and quasi-statically tested to give insights into how the VAP process affected the mechanical properties of the printed material. The mechanical properties of the VAP components were shown to be inferior when compared to the bulk properties of the material for this particular material system and notable dependencies on the print direction were observed.

在直写 (DW) 增材制造 (AM) 中观察到的一个广泛公认的问题是无法打印高粘性材料，例如具有高固体含量的粘土或粘性糊状物。在这项工作中，一种称为振动辅助打印 (VAP) 的增材制造技术对其打印高粘性材料 (> 10,000 Pa·s) 的能力进行了表征和评估。在展示了以高分辨率打印高粘性材料的能力后（喷嘴直径 = 500  μm) 和快速的打印速度（≥ 4000 毫米/分钟），使用具有代表性的高粘性材料完成各种打印特性测试，以分析 VAP 工艺在打印分辨率、层一致性、转角和最小特征尺寸方面的能力, 聚氯乙烯 (PVC) 造型粘土。对表征样品的分析提供了关于需要密切监测材料和工艺参数的哪些方面以确保准确的材料沉积的见解，这是生产功能组件的重要一步。打印表征完成后，将打印机械测试样品并进行准静态测试，以深入了解 VAP 工艺如何影响打印材料的机械性能。