ARTÍCULO

Analytical models to estimate the structural behavior of fused deposition modelling components

Cerda Ávila, Steffany Noemí Medellín Castillo, Hugo Iván Lim, Theodore
Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 27, pp.658 - 670., 2021.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to evaluate the capability and performance of analytical models to predict the structural mechanical behaviour of parts fabricated by fused deposition modelling (FDM). Design/methodology/approach – A total of eight existing and newly proposed analytical models, tailored to satisfy the structural behaviour of FDM parts, are evaluated in terms of their capability to predict the ultimate tensile stress (UTS) and the elastic modulus (E) of parts made of polylactic acid (PLA) by the FDM process. This evaluation is made by comparing the structural properties predicted by these models with the experimental results obtained from tensile tests on FDM specimens fabricated with variable infill percentage, perimeter layers and build orientation. Findings – Some analytical models are able to predict with high accuracy (prediction errors smaller than 5%) the structural behaviour of FDM and categories of similar additive manufactured parts. The most accurate model is Gibson’s and Ashby, followed by the efficiency model and the two new proposed exponential and variant Duckworth models.