Investigation into the effect of printing temperatures on material properties of fused filament fabricated components

Abstract

Three-Dimensional (3D) Printing is increasingly becoming a reality in everyday industrial applications. This technology works on the principal of layering strand upon strand and ultimately layer upon layer of printing material. In the case of FFF, a printing material called filament is used to create the desired component. An investigation was conducted on the printing parameters, settings, and material choices. The primary focus was however to investigate the effects of printing temperatures in relation to the strength/layer bonding of the finished component. This is since previous work failed to accurately address the relationship between printing parameters (temperature) and mechanical material properties. Test specimens were printed at specified temperature combinations from titan-X (ABS) for experimentation. The test specimens were then subjected to both tensile and compression tests. The results of the study illustrated that the combination of nozzle and platform temperature did in fact have an influence on the strength or layer bonding of the 3D printer samples. The compression tests produced the best layer bonding results at 85°C and 250°C (platform and nozzle temperature) with a yield strength of 51.49MPa. This resulted in an overall increase of 22.3% from the weakest test sample to the strongest. The tensile tests produced the strongest layer bonding results at 250°C nozzle temperature, and 100°C platform temperature at a fracture strength of 23.65MPa. The overall increase in the tensile test from the weakest to the strongest sample resulted in 42.56%. The study thus concluded that printing temperature does in fact influence the mechanical material properties of the printed material. The result of this study Aims to enable users of 3D printing to understand how different printing parameters affect different material properties for FFF 3D printed materials as well as to aid in design for manufacturing. When designing with 3D printed materials a lot of factors must be considered. Namely: The direction of the forces and the orientation of the strands within the component. The printing parameters must be set as desired for where the component will function, and which material properties are desired. The printing temperatures must be set to deliver either consistency or highest strength as desired or required by the design.