Influence of 3D Printing Parameters on Mechanical Properties of the PLA Parts Made by FDM Additive Manufacturing Process

Abstract

Paper presents the results of factorial experiments made to establish the influence of technological parameters of 3D printing using the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) Technology, on the mechanical properties of the material deposited with ULTRA PLA filaments. By planning the experiments and the statistical processing of the results, mathematical relations were established regarding the dependence between the objective functions, the controllable factors and their interactions. To obtain high tensile strengths of the components made by 3D printing, regimes are required to allow the deposition of layers as thin as possible (h = 0.1 mm) and temperatures as high as possible, close to 300°C. The choice of inappropriate values of these process parameters can lead to a significant decrease in tensile strength, reaching even up to 30-40% of the maximum possible value to be reached. The experiments reveal that the printing speed does not have a major influence on the mechanical properties. Practical, the printing speed is limited by the technical characteristics of the printer used. The results of the experimental research obtained on a number of 30 process variants led to the establishment of optimal 3D printing variants that correspond to the requirements imposed on the objectively analysed functions (tensile strength, dimensional accuracy, speed of execution, surface quality).