Comparative study of the tribological behaviour of 3D-printed and moulded ABS under lubricated condition

Abstract

In recent times, 3D printing has been extensively used for design and fabrication of different components of certain mechanisms and systems. The orientation of the component during 3D printing has its effect on the surface texture, and thus it impacts the tribological properties of tribopairs. Nonetheless, there is not much work done to comprehend the tribological properties of the components of 3D printing, which may cause uncontrolled wear of tribopairs surfaces. Therefore, the objective of this research is to examine the tribological behaviour of a regularly utilised polymer in 3D printing, namely acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). The outcomes of this study were evaluated against the moulded ABS. The sample of ABS was fabricated by using the technique of fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printing and compression moulding. The tribology analysis was conducted by utilising a ball-on-disc tribometer under paraffin oil lubrication. The analysis was conducted by applying different loads varying from 20∼55 N, sliding distance of 1000 m and sliding speed of 100 rpm at room temperature. Irrespective of the manufacturing process, coefficient of friction (COF) increases as the applied load is increased. Nonetheless, 3D-printed ABS has greater COF (0.040∼0.055) compared to the moulded ABS (0.009∼0.025), though the test running-in period before the steady-state condition is less compared to the moulded ABS. Meanwhile, the wear rate of the 3D-printed ABS decreases as the applied load is increased. In case of moulded ABS, at first, the wear rate increases as the load increases but gets decreased at higher applied load. The inherent surface roughness of 3D printed surfaces and the high COF due to it have still to be overcome. Betterments in the FDM technique can be carried out. The surfaces could also be treated physically or chemically so that they can be smoothened.