Numerical Simulation of Rep-Rap 3D Printer Liquefier to Determine the Thermal Behavior of Heat Sink

Fused Deposition modeling is the prime method of Additive manufacturing process used for the polymer manufacturing. As in this process the polymer filament enter in to the heat sink through feed filament feed mechanism and reaches to the heat block where it get melts and through the nozzle it get extruded and deposited layer by layer in order to build the component. In order to extrude the PLA melt, the feed polymer filament in solid form is used as a plunger. In order to use Polymer filament as a plunger, it is necessary to remain polymer filament is in solid state inside the heat sink. In order to remain feed filament in solid state it is necessary to remain the temperature of the heat sink much below the melting temperature of polymer. In order to increase the heat transfer rate from the heat sink it is necessary to increase the surface area of heat sink. Therefore in order to increase the surface area of heat sink fins are provided on the heat sink. Here in this paper thermal behavior of heat sink is analyzed. Here it also contains the optimization of heat sink fins profile, in this analysis heat sink having rectangular annular fin and circular annular fin are analyzed for different working material that is poly-lactic-acid (PLA), ABS polymer.