An exploration of polymer adhesion on 3D printer bed

Abstract

One of the problems in Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) 3D Printing process is that the extruded plastic filament tends to shrink and warp from the printing platform. The purpose of this research is to explore the warping deformation problem in four aspects i.e. curling, pincushion effect, trapezoid deformation and blocked shrinkage that usually occur in the process. Epoxy resin based adhesive was applied onto the printing platform to reduce and eliminate the warping deformation. Afterwards, by applying the adhesive, the 3D printed models were measured their curling, pincushion, trapezoid and blocked shrinkage using laser scanner and metrology software. The result shows that the pincushion and trapezoid has low deformation compared to curling and blocked shrinkage. Blocked shrinkage effect shows the highest warping deformation value. In comparison of materials, PLA shows the best geometry result with low warping deformation value and the best surface finish.