Experimental analysis and optimization of mechanical properties of FDM-processed polylactic acid using Taguchi design of experiment

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the most used additive manufacturing processes in the current time. Predicting the impact of different 3D printing parameters on the quality of printed parts is one of the critical challenges facing researchers. The present paper aims to examine the effect of three FDM process parameters, namely deposition velocity, extrusion temperature, and raster orientation on the bending strength, stiffness, and deflection at break of polylactic acid (PLA) parts using Taguchi design of experiment technique. The results indicate that the temperature has the highest impact on the mechanical properties of PLA specimens followed by the velocity and the orientation. The optimum composition offering the best mechanical behavior was determined. The optimal predicted response was 159.78 N, 39.92 N/mm, and 12.55 mm for the bending strength, bending stiffness, and deflection at break, respectively. The R2 obtained from analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed good agreement between the experimental results and those predicted using a regression model.