Fabrication of Fibers with Complex Features Using Thermal Drawing of 3D-Printed Preforms

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel method combining 3D printing and thermal drawing to create complex, high-precision polymer fibers with diverse functionalities, enabling rapid prototyping and customization for various applications.

Contribution

The study introduces a scalable approach using 3D-printed preforms for thermal drawing, allowing fabrication of complex, functional fibers with micron-scale features from multiple materials.

Findings

Fibers with diameters as small as 200 microns were successfully produced.

The method enabled incorporation of diverse material properties, such as magnetic and stiffness variations.

Complex geometries like tapered and interlocking fibers were fabricated for medical and robotic applications.

Abstract

High-aspect-ratio polymer materials are widely utilized in applications ranging from everyday materials such as clothing to specialized equipment in industrial and medical fields. Traditional fabrication methods, such as extrusion and molding, face challenges in integrating diverse materials and achieving complex geometries. Additionally, these methods are limited in their ability to provide low-cost and rapid prototyping, which are critical for research and development processes. In this work, we investigated the use of commercially available 3D printers to fabricate fiber preforms, which were subsequently thermally drawn into fibers. By optimizing 3D printing parameters, we achieved the fabrication of fibers with diameters as small as 200 um having complex shapes, with features down to a few microns. We demonstrated the versatility of this method by fabricating fibers from diverse set of materials, such as fibers with different stiffnesses and fibers with magnetic characteristics, which are beneficial for developing tendon-driven and magnetically actuated robotic fibers. In addition, by designing novel preform geometries, we produced tapered fibers and fibers with interlocking mechanisms, also tailored for use in medical steerable catheter applications. These advancements highlight the scalability and versatility of this approach, offering a robust platform for producing high-precision polymer fibers for diverse applications.