The Effect of Cooling and Temperature in 3D Printing Process with Fused Deposition Modelling Technology on the Mechanical Properties with Polylactic Acid Recycled Material

Abstract

3D printing is one of the most widely used manufacturing methods. However, its popularity also contributes to the worsening of the environment due to waste from leftover 3D print. Luckily, the usage of recycled filament has become more popular recently, but this recycled filament has lower mechanical properties. Because of that, their usage is less desirable. Therefore, this study aims to improve the mechanical properties of the recycled filament, especially Polylactic Acid (PLA), by one of the easiest methods controlling cooling factors on 3d print, such as fan cooling speed, extruder temperature, and bed temperature. This study uses a factorial design method to achieve the best combination level of fan cooling speed, extruder temperature, and bed temperature. From the study, the writers can conclude that the best factor combination based on both tests is fan cooling speed 100% (5 m/s), extruder temperature 190 °C, and bed temperature 50 °C, which is vastly different from the one recommended on PLA non-recycle. Furthermore, using this parameter, tensile strength has been improved as high as 37% and 5.3% on flexural strength.