Identification of Process Parameter Combination for Maximum Tensile Strength in 3D Printed Polylactic Acid Specimens Using Regression and ANOVA

Abstract

AbstractThis work aims at studying the effect of various inputs like infill density, layer thickness, speed of printing, and nozzle temperature on tensile strength of the Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) specimen printed using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process technique. Experiments have been conducted using a variety of different combinations of influencing parameters chosen from Taguchi's L16 orthogonal array. A regression-based mathematical model has been developed to establish relationship between output and input variables. The significance of input parameters in terms of degree of influence on tensile strength has been determined using Analysis of variance (ANOVA). It has been observed that the input parameters in layer height, print speed, and nozzle temperature are more significant than other parameters. Additionally, factorial plots have been utilized to determine the effect of each input parameter on the output, namely the tensile strength. Moreover, Taguchi analysis was done to find the best combination of input parameters for maximum Tensile strength. It has been observed that maximum value of Tensile Strength can be obtained at print speed of 50 mm/s, layer thickness of 0.2 mm, infill density of 100%, and nozzle temperature of 220 \(^\circ{\rm C}\). The results obtained from Taguchi Analysis have been experimentally validated.KeywordsAnalysis of variance (ANOVA)Fused deposition modeling (FDM)Poly lactic acid (PLA)Regression analysis (RA)