Study on the interaction characteristics of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and UV laser

Abstract

3D printing technology is currently used in various fields. Precision is also becoming more important as the usage of the 3D printing increases. However, the precision of the 3D printing is still low due to limitations of manufacturing methods. Especially, the surface roughness and quality are inconsistent. While the post-treatment is necessary, there are no systematic post-treatment methods. Thus, using the laser for the post-treatment of 3D printing would be a good option because it has many advantages for precision engineering. To be used for the post-treatment process, it is essential to understand the interaction characteristics between the laser and the 3D printing materials. Therefore, this study uses an UV pulsed laser and the acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), which is the most popular material for 3D printing, to understand the interaction characteristics. Furthermore, the effect of surface roughness on the interaction characteristics is also studied. The ABS specimens are prepared by an acetone fumigation technique and CNC milling. The laser is applied by varing laser pulse energy (50–340 $$\upmu \mathrm{J}$$ ) on the ABS specimens. As the surface roughness decreases, it is confirmed that laser and ABS interaction have a certain pattern. For the specimen prepared by the acetone fumigation technique, Heat Affected Zone decreases with decreasing the laser pulse energy. The specimen prepared by end milling requires higher laser ablation threshold.