Analysis of additively manufactured PLA containing notches using Failure Assessment Diagrams

Abstract

This paper provides a methodology for the estimation of the load-bearing capacity of additively manufactured (AM) PLA specimens that may be applied to both cracked and notched conditions. The methodology is based on the use of Failure Assessment Diagrams (FADs), which are, in practice, the main fracture-plastic collapse assessment tool provided by structural integrity assessment procedures. When dealing with notch-type defects, the methodology requires, additionally, the application of a notch correction that it is based on the Theory of Critical Distances (TCD) and the Creager-Paris stress distribution ahead of the crack-tip. The results show that the FAD methodology (alone, in cracked conditions, or in combination with the TCD in notched conditions) can be successfully applied in this AM polymer.