ARTÍCULO

An experimental methodology to analyse the structural behaviour of FDM parts with variable process parameters

Cerda Avila. Steffany Noemí Medellín Castillo, Hugo Iván Lim, Theodore
Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 26, pp. 1615-1625, 2020.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the structural behaviour of polylactic acid (PLA) parts fabricated by fused deposition modelling (FDM) to support the development of analytical and numerical models to predict the structural performance of FDM components and categories of similar additive manufactured parts. Design/methodology/approach – A new methodology based on uniaxial tensile tests of filaments and FDM specimens, infill measurement and normalization of the results is proposed and implemented. A total of 396 specimens made of PLA were evaluated by using variable process parameters. Findings – The infill and the build orientation have a large influence on the elastic modulus and ultimate tensile stress, whereas the layer thickness and the infill pattern have a low influence on these properties. The elongation at break is not influenced by the process parameters except by the build orientation. Furthermore, the infill values measured on the test specimens differ from the nominal values provided by the system.