Abstract
In this study, the strain rate sensitivity of five different thermoplastic polymers processed via Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) Additive Manufacturing (AM) is reported. Namely, Polylactic Acid (PLA), Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS), Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol (PETG), Polyamide 6 (PA6), and Polypropylene (PP) were thoroughly investigated under static tensile loading conditions at different strain rates. Strain rates have been selected representing the most common applications of polymeric materials manufactured by Three-Dimensional (3D) Printing. Each polymer was exposed to five different strain rates in order to elucidate the dependency and sensitivity of the tensile properties, i.e., stiffness, strength, and toughness on the applied strain rate. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was employed to investigate the 3D printed samples’ fractured surfaces, as a means to derive important information regarding the fracture process, the type of fracture (brittle or ductile), as well as correlate the fractured surface characteristics with the mechanical response under certain strain rate conditions. An Expectation–Maximization (EM) analysis was carried out. Finally, a comparison is presented calculating the strain rate sensitivity index “m” and toughness of all materials at the different applied strain rates.
Highlights
Additive Manufacturing (AM) has recently gained a large attention from the industry as well as the academic community, while it is considered to be in the forefront of industrial manufacturing processes either for prototyping or mass production procedures
A thin layer (3 nm) of platinum was deposited by sputtering onto all the 1 shows a diagram of the process followed manufacture thecharging different effects, polymeric samples that have been investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
A thin layer (3 nm) of platinum was deposited by sputtering onto all the samples that have been investigated by SEM in this study in order to avoid charging effects, as reported
Summary
Additive Manufacturing (AM) has recently gained a large attention from the industry as well as the academic community, while it is considered to be in the forefront of industrial manufacturing processes either for prototyping or mass production procedures. AM technologies are creating parts using a “layer by layer” principle, which endows an anisotropic behavior [8] This creates a need of implementing focused studies on the 3D printed specimens printing parameters and their effect on the mechanical response of the polymers. Regarding the strain rate sensitivity, it was experimentally determined and reported in the literature, that the strain rate highly affects the tensile properties [20,21,22,23]. Modifications on the mechanical properties due to the effect of the strain rate on polymers should be further investigated and probably modeled In this way, designers can achieve a better understanding on the mechanical properties’ specifications on each case study. In the study at hand, the strain rate sensitivity under quasi-static tensile loading conditions of five different 3D printed thermoplastic polymers is reported. Interestingly enough, it has been found that the strain rate sensitivity varies
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