Resolving warping in 3D printing of thermoplastic parts via heterostructure brim

Abstract

In 3D printing, warping is a common issue caused by material shrinkage, leading to printing parts deforming, lifting, and detaching from the printer build plate. Herein, the influence of surface area coverage, shape, warping solutions applied, filament material, and brim material of 3D-printed parts on the part warping was sequentially investigated. A standardized parameter, warped proportion (WP), was proposed to quantitatively evaluate the amount of warping in parts. The results show that printed parts with a larger surface area coverage, smaller thickness, and larger interior angles of polygons exhibit excellent resistance to warping. Commercial adhesives are a cost-effective solution for mitigating warping to a certain extent, while heat enclosures are more effective at producing parts with largely reduced warping. The ultimate solution for warping was finally achieved by adding a brim of a different semi-rigid material with a higher melting temperature, smaller coefficient of linear thermal expansion, and good adhesion before printing a part of one material.