Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) is a rapid prototyping system that produces physical models directly from the computer aided design (CAD) drawings. These models can be used to evaluate the assembly and the functionality of the design, also producing a manufacturing tools, and end-use parts. Parts built with production-grade thermoplastics that match the traditional machined parts, and according to the realworld conditions. FDM can produce instantly functional parts that used mainly in medical and automotive applications, with the use of reverse engineering techniques such as engineering scanning or digitizing systems. Knowledge of the quality characteristics of FDM fabricated parts is crucial. Quality significantly depends on process variable parameters. Optimizing the process parameters of FDM can make the system more precise and repeatable and such advancement can lead to use of FDM in rapid manufacturing applications rather than only producing prototypes. The part building is influenced by variant processing conditions. Thus, FDM process variable parameters are required to be collectively optimized rather than individually. In order to understand this issue, this study presents results of the experimental work on the effect of the main FDM process variable parameters of layer thickness (A), air gap (B), raster width (C), contour width (D), and raster orientation (E) on the quality characteristics of surface roughness (Ra), dimensional accuracy (DA), and tensile strength (TS). Previous studies have investigated the quality characteristics but limited knowledge is available on FDM newly improved materials. Thus, the new ABS- M30i biomedical material was used in this experimental work to build parts. To conduct this study, a full factorial experiment was used to obtain the test runs. A number of analytical methods such as regression analysis, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Pareto analysis were used to determine the influence of the variable FDM process parameter settings. Results show that these process parameters have significant effect on the quality of finished products. For example, it has been found that the surface roughness and tensile strength of processed parts are greatly influenced by the air gap parameter as it affects the part’s beads structure, because it overlapping the material beads and consequently strengthen the beads bonding, and reduce the voids between the beads. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) work has been undertaken to characterise the experimental results. The results will be important for FDM produced parts in different functional applications as rapid manufacturing becomes increasingly accepted.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:549823 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Alhubail, Mohammad A. M. J. |
| Contributors | Bennett, Nicholas George ; Zhang, Zhong |
| Publisher | University of Portsmouth |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/statisticalbased-optimization-of-process-parameters-of-fused-deposition-modelling-for-improved-quality(fa9bcd34-0264-4330-9fdb-dd17a818b862).html |
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