Abstract
In this study, a wood fiber/polylactic acid composite (WPC) filament was used as feedstock to print the WPC part by means of fused deposition modeling (FDM). The morphology and mechanical properties of WPC parts printed at different speeds (30, 50, and 70 mm/s) were determined. The results show that the density of the printed WPC part increased as the printing speed decreased, while its surface color became darker than that of parts printed at a high speed. The printing time decreased with an increasing printing speed; however, there was a small difference in the time saving percentage without regard to the dimensions of the printed WPC part at a given printing speed. Additionally, the tensile and flexural properties of the printed WPC part were not significantly influenced by the printing speed, whereas the compressive strength and modulus of the FDM-printed part significantly decreased by 34.3% and 14.6%, respectively, when the printing speed was increased from 30 to 70 mm/s. Furthermore, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) illustrated that the FDM process at a high printing speed produced an uneven surface of the part with a narrower width of printed layers, and pull-outs of wood fibers were more often observed on the fracture surface of the tensile sample. These results show that FDM manufacturing at different printing speeds has a substantial effect on the surface color, surface roughness, density, and compressive properties of the FDM-printed WPC part.
Highlights
In recent years, additive manufacturing (AM), commonly referred to as 3D printing, has seen increased use as a low-cost and versatile technology for rapid prototyping
Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) illustrated that the fused deposition modeling (FDM) process at a high printing speed produced an uneven surface of the part with a narrower width of printed layers, and pull-outs of wood fibers were more often observed on the fracture surface of the tensile sample
In the FDM printing process, the wood fiber/polylactic acid composite (WPC) filament was melted in a heater at 210 ◦ C and cooled on a
Summary
Additive manufacturing (AM), commonly referred to as 3D printing, has seen increased use as a low-cost and versatile technology for rapid prototyping. Previous studies have reported that process parameters significantly affect the quality and mechanical properties of FDM-printed parts, such as the printing orientation, layer thickness, feed rate, infill density and pattern, printing speed, and extrusion temperature [7,8,9,11,21,22,23,24,25,26,27]. Except for the extrusion temperature, the increase in the feed rate can reduce the heating time of the melt filaments through the heater in the nozzle, or a sufficiently fast printing speed can minimize the holding time for the layers at dangerous temperatures to prevent thermal degradation of the lignocellulosic fibers in the filament [5,20] These essential process parameters work together to control the speed of an FDM system. The present study aims to investigate the morphology and mechanical properties of WPC parts using FDM printing at different printing speeds
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