Conceptual Design and Materials Selection of the FDM Composites for Passenger Vehicle’s Spoiler

Abstract

One of the additive manufacturing techniques available is Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), which offers advantages in design flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and the ability to produce intricate designs. Therefore, FDM for the 3D-printed vehicle’s car spoiler is a subject that can be explored. The FDM technology can significantly reduce time and cost before mass production, and the vehicle’s car spoiler was used as the case study in this research. The research investigates the mechanical properties of various commercial PLA composite filaments, addressing the lack of specifications provided by manufacturers. Testing four types of filaments—PLA/bamboo, PLA/coconut, PLA/wood, and PLA/metal. This research also emphasizes the conceptual design generation and selection for the passenger vehicle’s spoiler. Five design concepts were generated using the morphological chart for the passenger vehicle’s spoiler. The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method was used as the decision-making tool. As a result, PLA/metal, with 53.65 MPa and 70.23 MPa, showed the highest tensile and flexural strength values, respectively. Design concept 5 with the infill pattern of rib + I was the best from the finite element analysis (FEA) using SolidWorks simulation software. Finally, the TOPSIS technique revealed PLA/metal as the best PLA composite filament for car spoilers, scoring first in performance score with a value of 0.5774. This study demonstrates that by using a systematic approach, researchers may choose the best design concept and material choice by combining the conceptual design, experimental, simulation, and TOPSIS methods.