Mechanical Properties on ABS/PLA Materials for Geospatial Imaging Printed Product using 3D Printer Technology

Abstract

The advancement of geospatial imaging printed product is influenced by the use of more rapid and precise product making technology. 3D printing of products by using plastic polymers has been widely explored and used in geospatial technology. The selection of plastic polymers that are going to used depends on the 3D printing technique, applications and their properties. Because of that, this chapter describes specifically about the mechanical properties of two of the most commonly used 3D printing polymer materials in geospatial technology, which are Polylactic Acid (PLA) and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS). Two types of test are carried out to determine the mechanical properties of these plastic polymers, which include tensile and flexural tests. The testing specimens for both tests are produced by using 3D printing method and 15 specimens are tested for each polymer material. The experimental results show that PLA has better tensile performance in terms of strength, strain and modulus of elasticity. For flexural test, PLA shows better performance in terms of strength and modulus of elasticity but ABS is more superior in terms of strain. Because of that, it can be concluded that different plastic polymer material shows distinct mechanical properties.