INFLUENCE OF SLICER SOFTWARE USED WITH 3D PRINTING FILAMENT EXTRUSION TECHNOLOGY ON PROPERTIES OF PRINTED PARTS WITH SHORT FIBER REINFORCED THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE

Abstract

3D printing with filament extrusion technology is a process in which the thermoplastic molten material is sequentially accumulated layer by layer on a construction platform. 3D printers use a slicer software that converts 3D digital models into printing instructions. The software calculates the trajectory of the extruder within the printer, from three-dimensional mesh-based models. The input of the lamination software is a “.stl” file and the output is a “.gcode” file. For each layer, the lamination program generates the path that the printer extruder will travel, this could determine if a part is correctly made or not. The objective of this study has been to analyze, with a view to industry implementation of the 3D printing, if the slicer software used in the extrusion 3D printing of short glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic, influences the final results that are obtained in the printed parts. It has been worked with four 3D printing slicer software, and it has been analyzed if there are significantly differences in mechanical and dimensional properties in the printed parts. For which, in the printing tests, always the same filament printer, printing material, part design, ".stl" file, and values for the percentage and type of filling, height layer and skin thickness have been used. The additive material used was a 2.85 mm diameter filament of 30% short glass fiber reinforced polyamide 6. It has been concluded that the slicer software, considering the evaluated ones, influences the results of the percentage of deformation at maximum tension, of the printed parts. The influence on the values of the resistance and the tensile modulus is not significant. Keywords: Filament fused fabrication (FFF), fused deposition modeling (FDM), short fibre composites, slicer software, printing parameters, tensile strength.