Experimental demonstration that helical buckling might occur during the initial stage of extrusion in fused filament fabrication

Abstract

This study explored the buckling phenomena previously found during the initial stage of extrusion in fused filament fabrication (FFF). Three sets of experiments were conducted on 1.5 mm filaments of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS). The experimental results indicated that the previously observed buckling was helical buckling (i.e., coiling) when the extrusion temperature ranged from 110 °C to 212 °C. This finding gave a better understanding of the gap-filling mechanism of ABS filaments at their initial stage of material extrusion.