Investigating Effects of Fused-Deposition Modeling (FDM) Processing Parameters on Flexural Properties of ULTEM 9085 using Designed Experiment.

Aboma Gebisa,Hirpa Lemu

doi:10.3390/ma11040500

Abstract

Fused-deposition modeling (FDM), one of the additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, is an advanced digital manufacturing technique that produces parts by heating, extruding and depositing filaments of thermoplastic polymers. The properties of FDM-produced parts apparently depend on the processing parameters. These processing parameters have conflicting advantages that need to be investigated. This article focuses on an investigation into the effect of these parameters on the flexural properties of FDM-produced parts. The investigation is carried out on high-performance ULTEM 9085 material, as this material is relatively new and has potential application in the aerospace, military and automotive industries. Five parameters: air gap, raster width, raster angle, contour number, and contour width, with a full factorial design of the experiment, are considered for the investigation. From the investigation, it is revealed that raster angle and raster width have the greatest effect on the flexural properties of the material. The optimal levels of the process parameters achieved are: air gap of 0.000 mm, raster width of 0.7814 mm, raster angle of 0°, contour number of 5, and contour width of 0.7814 mm, leading to a flexural strength of 127 MPa, a flexural modulus of 2400 MPa, and 0.081 flexural strain.

Highlights

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an emerging manufacturing technique that has opened up new opportunities for producing complex functional structures without the need for any tooling
This study investigates the flexural property of the ULTEM 9085 material that is relatively new and has not been explored enough, unlike most of the existing literature that has focused on tensile and compressive properties of few known thermoplastics such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polycarbonate (PC) and polylactic acid (PLA)
The objective of the current study is to investigate the effect of five process parameters on the flexural property of ULTEM

Summary

Introduction

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an emerging manufacturing technique that has opened up new opportunities for producing complex functional structures without the need for any tooling. In the ASTM standard, AM is defined as “a process of joining materials to make objects from 3D-model data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies. Synonyms: additive fabrication, additive processes, additive techniques, additive layer manufacturing, layer manufacturing, and freeform fabrication” [1]. Fused-deposition modeling (FDM), shown schematically, is among the categories of AM defined as “a material extrusion process used to make thermoplastic parts through heated extrusion and deposition of materials layer by layer” [1]. FDM produces polymeric/plastic parts from polymeric filament by melting material, extruding and depositing it by adjusting the different processing parameters of the building machines

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