THE APPLICATION OF THE TAGUCHI METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING THE COMPRESSION STRENGTH OF PLA SAMPLES PRODUCED USING FDM

In this study, the Taguchi method was applied to optimize the compressive strength of PLA samples produced using Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM). The study used Taguchi L9 experimental design to optimize three different process parameters (wall thickness, filling pattern, and printing speed). S/N ratios and ANOVA methods were used to analyze the experiments. The results of the experiments using the Taguchi technique were analyzed according to S/N ratios and the parameter levels with the best results were determined. The best levels for wall thickness, filling pattern, and print speed parameters were determined and the effects of these parameters were analyzed. It was concluded that wall thickness was the most effective parameter and filling pattern and print speed were less effective. ANOVA analysis confirmed the influence of the parameters on the compressive strength. It was observed that wall thickness contributed the most (70.20%) and filling pattern contributed the second most (29.11%).