With the rapid increase in utilization of the cheap and user friendly Fused Filament Fabrication, FFF 3D printer, a deeper knowledge about the technique is needful. The frame restricting the 3D printers for prototyping purposes is fading and a new phase of endless application possibilities is emerging. To bridge the gap in possible applications from prototypes to real products it is key to know and improve the factors affecting durability. With over a hundred settings and parameters to tweak the FFF 3D printing process there are a lot of opportunities, opportunities to optimize for durability.The tensile properties of some of the most used FFF 3D printing materials together with a few nylon based materials are examined, which are popular in engineering applications. The materials tested are ranging from rigid to flexible, rubber like materials. The most common failure scenario of a FFF 3D printed product is layer bonding failure. The factors affecting layer bonding performance are studied.The measurements are carried out using tensile testing equipment at Blekinge Institute of Technology. All tested specimens are manufactured at Creative Tools AB Halmstad with the FFF 3D printers Flashforge Dreamer and Makerbot Replicator 2X.The tensile strength of 3D printed PLA is found to be 51 MPa. PET has a tensile strength of 40 MPa and ABS 34 MPa. Stress-strain behavior of the materials shows that ABS is slightly softer than PLA and PET are slightly softer than ABS. PLA being the hardest material in the test. ISO 527-2 tensile testing standard is used but the tests diverge from the standard in several ways. The measurement data presented in this study can be very useful to guide the design engineer to choose the most durable plastic for the unique application.Five basic 3D printing settings are evaluated for layer bonding performance, by measuring the load capacity of a PLA specimen loaded transversally relative to the layers. Four of the settings show to possibly affect the layer bond’s load capacity by 50 % or more individually.The results of this study are presented in graphs, diagrams and pictures. These may help the 3D printer user to tweak basic settings to increase layer bonding performance and ultimately the durability of the product significantly.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:bth-12355 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Johansson, Frans |
| Publisher | Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för maskinteknik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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