Infill Orientation Research Articles

Three-dimensional printing of clinical scale and personalized calcium phosphate scaffolds for alveolar bone reconstruction

ObjectiveAlveolar bone defects can be highly variable in their morphology and, as the defect size increases, they become more challenging to treat with currently available therapeutics and biomaterials. This investigation sought to devise a protocol for fabricating customized clinical scale and patient-specific, bioceramic scaffolds for reconstruction of large alveolar bone defects. MethodsTwo types of calcium phosphate (CaP)-based bioceramic scaffolds (alginate/β-TCP and hydroxyapatite/α-TCP, hereafter referred to as hybrid CaP and Osteoink™, respectively) were designed, 3D printed, and their biocompatibility with alveolar bone marrow stem cells and mechanical properties were determined. Following scaffold optimization, a workflow was developed to use cone beam computed tomographic (CBCT) imaging to design and 3D print, defect-specific bioceramic scaffolds for clinical-scale bone defects. ResultsOsteoink™ scaffolds had the highest compressive strength when compared to hybrid CaP with different infill orientation. In cell culture medium, hybrid CaP degradation resulted in decreased pH (6.3) and toxicity to stem cells; however, OsteoInk™ scaffolds maintained a stable pH (7.2) in culture and passed the ISO standard for cytotoxicity. Finally, a clinically feasible laboratory workflow was developed and evaluated using CBCT imaging to engineer customized and defect-specific CaP scaffolds using OsteoInk™. It was determined that printed scaffolds had a high degree of accuracy to fit the respective clinical defects for which they were designed (0.27 mm morphological deviation of printed scaffolds from digital design). SignificanceFrom patient to patient, large alveolar bone defects are difficult to treat due to high variability in their complex morphologies and architecture. Our findings shows that Osteoink™ is a biocompatible material for 3D printing of clinically acceptable, patient-specific scaffolds with precision-fit for use in alveolar bone reconstructive procedures. Collectively, emerging digital technologies including CBCT imaging, 3D surgical planning, and (bio)printing can be integrated to address this unmet clinical challenge.

Effects of Infill Orientation and Percentage on the Magnetoactive Properties of 3d Printed Magnetic Elastomer Structures

Effects of Infill Orientation and Percentage on the Magnetoactive Properties of 3d Printed Magnetic Elastomer Structures

The Surface Characteristics, Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of PEEK Printed by Fused Deposition Modeling with Different Raster Angles.

Additive manufacturing provides a novel and robust way to prepare medical product with anatomic matched geometry and tailored mechanical performance. In this study, the surface characteristics, microstructure, and mechanical properties of fused deposition modeling (FDM) prepared polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) were systematically studied. During the FDM process, the crystal unit cell and thermal attribute of PEEK material remained unchanged, whereas the surface layer generally became more hydrophilic with an obvious reduction in surface hardness. Raster angle has a significant effect on the mechanical strength but not on the failure mechanism. In practice, FDM fabricated PEEK acted more like a laminate rather than a unified structure. Its main failure mechanism was correlated to the internal voids. The results show that horizontal infill orientation with 30° raster angle is promising for a better comprehensive mechanical performance, and the corresponding tensile, flexural, and shear strengths are (76.5 ± 1.4) MPa, (149.7 ± 3.0) MPa, and (55.5 ± 1.8) MPa, respectively. The findings of this study provide guidelines for FDM-PEEK to enable its realization in applications such as orthopedic implants.

Fused Deposition Modeling‐Based 3D‐Printed Electrical Interconnects and Circuits

Multimaterial 3D printing in electronics is expanding due to the ability to realize geometrically complex systems with simplified processes compared with conventional printed circuit board. Herein, the feasibility of using a copper‐based filament to realize 3D circuits with planar and vertical interconnections is presented. The resistivity of the tracks (1–3 mm wide) is studied with reference to printing parameters and orientation. Using lateral infill for 1 mm tracks offers lower resistance compared with longitudinal infill (≈75%). For wider tracks, the effect of infill orientation on resistance diminishes. The evaluation of tracks embedded in polylactic acid shows a drop in maximum current (to ≈11 mA) compared with exposed tracks (≈16 mA). There is no observed correlation between electrical performance and number of embedding layers. However, a significant correlation is observed between the tracks’ resistance and the amount of time the filament remains in the heated nozzle. This in‐depth study leads to optimum resolution to realize conductive tracks of 0.67 mm thickness and the first integration of fused deposition modeling (FDM)‐printed conductive traces with small‐outline integrated circuits to open a pathway for higher‐density 3D printed circuits. Finally, the transmission of digital data by a 3D printed circuit is demonstrated.

Additive Manufacturing of Polymer-Based Composites Using Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF): a Review

In this review paper, recent developments in the Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) approach are provided for composite materials. Influencing parameters in FFF process such as road width, print speed, layer thickness, feed rate and build temperature of the model (both liquefier and envelope temperature), fiber orientation, the layer position, volume fraction, and infill orientation have been studied. These considered parameters in the strength/bonding or physicochemical characterizations of FFF-fabricated parts have been presented in detail. An overview of the mechanical properties of printed parts for different composite material systems is presented and discussed. Three types of reinforced polymers in FFF process have been considered: filled reinforced polymers, continuous fiber-reinforced polymers, and short fiber reinforced polymers.

Correlation between production parameters and mechanical properties of ABS plus p430 fused deposition material

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), is one of the most popular and widely used Additive Manufacturing filament based technology employing materials such as Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), Polycarbonate (PC), Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) and Polylactic Acid (PLA). In this technique, the part is built up layer-by-layer, affecting, both the resolution along the z-axis, and the mechanical properties dependent on the mesostructure, controlled by a large amount of production parameters such as layer thickness, raster orientation, number of contour and air gap. When dealing with functional and structural printed parts, a deep understanding of these tunable building parameters and their influence on the mechanical properties is of the utmost importance and over the years many experimental studies have been carried to investigate this need. This study is intended to explore specimens realized through FDM technique with different combinations of printing parameters to analyse their effect on the mechanical properties of ABS Plus p430. To this aim, tensile and compression specimens, had been designed and tested. Sixteen different types of tensile specimen had been realized by varying four different parameters, namely, layer thickness, part interior style, infill orientation and number of contours. Whereas, the number of compression specimens had been limited to four considering the variation of two parameters: layer thickness and part interior style. Three samples for each specimen had been produced in ABS Plus p430 using a Stratasys Fortus 250mc FDM printer and tested with a universal testing machine through tension and compression tests to analyse the correlation between printing parameters and material properties. Test results had led to important conclusions on the consistency and homogeneity of the mechanical properties and on the variation of the material’s performances in accordance with the different combinations of production parameters.

Highly toughened blends of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and natural rubber (NR) for FDM-based 3D printing applications: The effect of composition and infill pattern

In this study, the suitability of natural rubber (NR) toughened poly(lactic acid) (PLA)-based blends were investigated for additive manufacturing applications. Filaments for fused deposition modeling (FDM) were prepared with an NR concentration of 0 … 20 wt% using a twin-screw extruder. Subsequently, specimens were fabricated with a desktop 3D printer machine working on FDM principles. Besides the composition of PLA/NR blends, the effect of infill orientation was also analyzed by preparing two sets of specimens: i) one set prepared with an alternating raster angle of ±45° (3DGRID) and ii) another one with a linear infill parallel to the length of the specimens (3DPAR). Quasi-static and dynamic mechanical properties, morphology and thermal characteristics of the fabricated specimens were investigated. The tensile tests revealed that the presence of NR effectively enhances the ductility of PLA filaments, however, the achieved improvement was highly dependent on the applied infill pattern. Samples prepared using the 3DPAR infill exhibited an excellent deformability when paired with NR. On the other hand, the ones fabricated with the 3DGRID technique only showed a marginal improvement in elongation. Similarly, the Charpy impact tests indicated an outstanding impact resistance of NR-toughened 3DPAR specimens, while the 3DGRID types showed little to no improvement. Scanning electron microscopic analysis revealed a weaker interlayer adhesion in the specimens containing NR, which greatly contributed to the discrepancies observed between the mechanical properties of the samples prepared with different infill. The differential scanning calorimetry revealed an almost completely amorphous structure of 3D printed PLA due to the quite rapid cooling characteristic of the FDM technique, which was not affected by the embedded NR component.

Strain-rate-dependent properties of short carbon fiber-reinforced acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene using material extrusion additive manufacturing

PurposeThe purpose of the present paper is to quantify and analyze the strain-rate dependence of the yield stress for both unfilled acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and short carbon fiber-reinforced ABS (CF-ABS) materials, fabricated via material extrusion additive manufacturing (ME-AM). Two distinct and opposite infill orientation angles were used to attain anisotropy effects.Design/methodology/approachTensile test samples were printed with two different infill orientation angles. Uniaxial tensile tests were performed at five different constant linear strain rates. Apparent densities were measured to compensate for the voided structure. Scanning electron microscope fractography images were analyzed. An Eyring-type flow rule was evaluated for predicting the strain-rate-dependent yield stress.FindingsAnisotropy was detected not only for the yield stresses but also for its strain-rate dependence. The short carbon fiber-filled material exhibited higher anisotropy than neat ABS material using the same ME-AM processing parameters. It seems that fiber and molecular orientation influence the strain-rate dependence. The Eyring-type flow rule can adequately describe the yield kinetics of ME-AM components, showing thermorheologically simple behavior.Originality/valueA polymer’s viscoelastic behavior is paramount to be able to predict a component’s ultimate failure behavior. The results in this manuscript are important initial findings that can help to further develop predictive numerical tools for ME-AM technology. This is especially relevant because of the inherent anisotropy that ME-AM polymer components show. Furthermore, short carbon fiber-filled ABS enhanced anisotropy effects during ME-AM, which have not been measured previously.

Enhancing the tensile properties with minimal mass variation by revealing the effects of parameters in fused filament fabrication process

The Fused Filament Fabrication is a revolutionary method for the manufacturing industry. However, there are still numerous challenges need to be tackled in order to standardize the procedure of printing process. In this study, the process parameters of line width, shell thickness, infill orientation and infill overlap, have been experimentally investigated over their affect on tensile strength properties and the mass of the produced samples. Design of experiments has been planned, conducted and evaluated using the Taguchi approach. A total of 25 combinations of the four printing parameters with five different settings have been set according to the L25 Orthogonal Array table. The sample parts have been printed via widely used type low-cost and open-source 3D printer. Afterwards, the printed samples are tested for their tensile strength. The best combinations of the parameters with relevant settings have been revealed by S/N Ratio analysis. In order to validate the statistical results, the sample with newly found combination has been manufactured. Then, the ANOVA has been applied in order to reveal the percentage contributions of parameters to the tensile behaviour. It has been concluded that infill overlap and orientation parameters are dominant factors over the ultimate tensile strength of the samples. As a widespread effect, generalized equations have been established and presented in order to calculate the occupied area by an overlap. By implementing the equations, the users will be able to configure their input parameters in behalf of increasing the tensile strength while controlling the material consumption.

Influence of the Infill Orientation on the Properties of Zirconia Parts Produced by Fused Filament Fabrication.

The fused filament fabrication (FFF) of ceramics enables the additive manufacturing of components with complex geometries for many applications like tooling or prototyping. Nevertheless, due to the many factors involved in the process, it is difficult to separate the effect of the different parameters on the final properties of the FFF parts, which hinders the expansion of the technology. In this paper, the effect of the fill pattern used during FFF on the defects and the mechanical properties of zirconia components is evaluated. The zirconia-filled filaments were produced from scratch, characterized by different methods and used in the FFF of bending bars with infill orientations of 0°, ±45° and 90° with respect to the longest dimension of the specimens. Three-point bending tests were conducted on the specimens with the side in contact with the build platform under tensile loads. Next, the defects were identified with cuts in different sections. During the shaping by FFF, pores appeared inside the extruded roads due to binder degradation and or moisture evaporation. The changes in the fill pattern resulted in different types of porosity and defects in the first layer, with the latter leading to earlier fracture of the components. Due to these variations, the specimens with the 0° infill orientation had the lowest porosity and the highest bending strength, followed by the specimens with ±45° infill orientation and finally by those with 90° infill orientation.

Influence of Structural Characteristics on the Mechanical Properties of FDM Printed PLA Material

The present study reports on the influence of printing process parameters, architecture, raster, infill orientation and filling on the density, macrostructure, and mechanical properties, including impact resistance, of biodegradable polymer parts fabricated in polylactide (PLA) on a desktop printer. It complements and considers phenomenologically the results of recently published similar studies, including the use of recycled filament. In our study, complex mechanical properties for the samples printed at the same time on a Replicator 2 printer were investigated. Three samples were printed for each test. Full mechanical characteristics (tensile, compression and bend strengths and impact resistance) of the printed PLA material are reported. This is the novelty in comparison to other studies, where the samples test were printed individually or in a series for each test. The shape and thickness of the layered macrostructure, the presence of holes inside the layers, the number of shell perimeters and the fill density all influenced the tensile properties of the printed materials. These results show the possibility of printing with a 0.3, i.e. shorter printing time than 0.1, 0.15 and 0.18 mm layer thicknesses also reported, without significant decrease in mechanical properties. It is interesting to note that the compressive strengths, the yield of 70–80 MPa and a UTS 113–120 MPa for the printed material with a fill density of 94–96% are comparable with those of aluminum.

Influence of raster orientation on the determination of fracture properties of polypropylene thin components produced by additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing techniques are increasingly being used to produce components in different sectors, including industrial, aeronautical, education and medical applications. In order to predict the mechanical behaviour of these components, it is necessary to characterise materials according to their manufacturing process. Considering the technology of additive manufacturing by “fused filament fabrication” (FFF) or “fused deposition modelling” (FDM), and specifically in “material extrusion additive manufacturing” (ME-AM), several parameters must be defined to produce the required geometries. The infill orientation is one of the parameters that most affects mechanical and fracture properties of the final components, often causing premature failures. Therefore, the objective of this work is to study the influence of raster orientation on fracture parameters for thin polymer components. For this purpose, double deeply edge-notched tensile (DDEN-T) thin specimens have been tested considering the essential work of fracture (EWF) approach. The studied material has been polypropylene (PP). Experimental results show the influence of filament orientation on the essential work of fracture and the limitations of the EWF approach for some of the assessed orientations. Additionally, two different fracture mechanisms have been observed and discussed. This work demonstrates the importance of optimising the raster orientation during the filament deposition layer by layer, depending on the application of the manufactured component, to preserve its structural integrity.

Design and development of a low-cost open-source 3D printer and its single response optimization using polylactic acid (PLA) material

Fused deposition modelling fabricates a 3D model from CAD data using a heated tip to extrude thermoplastic material onto a surface layer-by-layer. At present, there are number of commercial 3D printers available. Owing to the high cost, material restrictions and difficulty to study process parameters of commercial 3D printers, an open source 3D printer is designed and developed taking into consideration the cost analysis as well. Design of experiments (DOE) is used with an orthogonal array using three process parameters layer thickness, orientation Infill Orientation and temperature of extruder, to get tensile strength of the specimen. A standard specimen of ASTM D638 made up of PLA material is selected for analysis in 27 experiments where tensile testing is performed to calculate the tensile strength of each specimen. A probability distribution curve is drawn to ascertain the validity of the experiments where the results fall close to the mean value. Using the ANOVA approach and regression model a full quadratic equation is obtained and a graph is obtained which corroborates with the fact that although anisotropic deposition of material results in disparity of tensile strength, but the values fall within permissible limits. The results highlight that in case of PLA material as the layer thickness decreases, the tensile strength tends to increase. It is also to be noted that although layer thickness and orientation angle have been analysed extensively as process parameters compared to temperature the later within the selected range has shown certain inclination towards a typical value. The future scope is to analyse various other process parameters like raster width, raster angle, object orientation, feed rate, infill density, space filling, etc. to give a comprehensible outlook to the study of the process parameters in open source 3D printers using other polymers.

Anisotropic rate-dependent mechanical behavior of Poly(Lactic Acid) processed by Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing

The strain-rate dependence of the yield stress for Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing (ME-AM) polylactide samples was investigated. Apparent densities of the ME-AM processed tensile test specimens were measured and taken into account in order to study the effects of the ME-AM processing step on the material behavior. Three different printing parameters were changed to investigate their influence on mechanical properties, i.e. infill velocity, infill orientation angle, and bed temperature. Additionally, compression molded test samples were manufactured in order to determine bulk properties, which have been compared to the ME-AM sample sets. Anisotropy was detected in the strain-rate dependence of the yield stresses. ME-AM samples with an infill angle of 0° have a higher strain-rate dependence than specimens with αor = 90°. Remarkably, the strain-rate dependence manifested by the ME-AM samples is considerably lower than that displayed by compression molded test specimens. The Ree-Eyring modification of the Eyring flow rule is able to accurately describe the strain-rate dependence of the yield stresses, taking two molecular deformation processes into account to describe the yield kinetics. The results from this paper further show a change from a brittle behavior in case of compression molded samples to a semi-ductile behavior for some of the ME-AM sample sets. This change is attributed to the processing phase and stresses the importance that the temperature profile (initial fast cooling combined with successive heating cycles) and the strain profile during ME-AM processing have on the resulting mechanical properties. Both these profiles are significantly different from the thermo-mechanical history that material elements experience during conventional processing methods, e.g. injection or compression molding. This paper can be seen as initial work that can help to further develop predictive numerical tools for Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing, as well as for the design of structural components.

Effects of the infill pattern on mechanical properties of fused layer modeling (FLM) 3D printed wood/polylactic acid (PLA) composites

In this paper, possible influences of various infill orientations (deposition angles) on specific material characteristics—such as tensile strength, compressive strength, charpy impact strength and heat deflection temperature (HDT)—of fused layer modeling (FLM) processed test specimens were evaluated. Two specially made wood filaments, made of the same polylactic acid (PLA) polymer but two different wood fiber contents, were used for sample manufacturing and evaluated as a function of fiber content as well as infill orientation. In the context of the wood fiber content, formulations containing 15 wt. % as well as 25 wt. % of fibers were examined. In connection with infill orientation, the influence factor of seven FLM 3D printing infill orientations (deposition angles)—in particular 0°, 15° crossed, 30° crossed, 45° crossed, 60° crossed, 75° crossed and 90°—on several material properties was investigated. It could be proven that there is a direct interaction between the infill orientation (deposition angle) and the resulting mechanical performance of the test specimens. This is not exclusively a direct correlation, but there is a mutual dependency. Apart from that, the analysis showed that the higher the fiber content in the filament, the higher the resulting mechanical properties.

Manipulating magnetic anisotropy in fused filament fabricated parts via macroscopic shape, mesoscopic infill orientation, and infill percentage

The application space for three-dimensional (3D) printing, such as fused filament fabrication (FFF), has grown significantly through the use of high-performance composite materials. While the mechanical, thermal, optical, and electrical properties of additive manufacturing (AM) polymer composites are being actively studied, the magnetic properties of AM parts have seen much less attention. Prior research has shown that the structural print settings for FFF influence the magnetic properties of the printed part (Bollig et al., 2017). However, the structural hierarchy present in the FFF process complicates a simple analysis of how these magnetic differences arise. Here, a magnetic filament consisting of polylactic acid (PLA) polymer and 40 wt.% iron was used to print a variety of samples to investigate how the macroscopic sample shape and the mesoscopic infill orientation and infill percentage affects the magnetic properties. The array of samples systematically covered different aspect ratios (length:width), edge contours (rectangular vs. ellipsoidal), two infill orientations (long axis alignment vs. short axis alignment), and varying infill percentages. The key results show that the highest magnetic susceptibility was seen for magnetic fields applied parallel to the infill orientation. The macroscopic geometry increased the magnetic susceptibility parallel to the long axis of the sample. Lastly, certain factors, such as edge contours and infill percentage, only affected the magnetic susceptibility when the magnetic field was applied transverse to the infill orientation, but had no effect when field was applied along the infill direction. Elucidating how the part shape, infill orientation, and infill percentage affects the magnetic properties of AM parts will help the community better understand how an FFF process can be utilized to make optimal magnetic components, such as transformer cores, electric motors, and electromagnetic interference shielding.

Shape memory effect of three-dimensional printed products based on polypropylene/nylon 6 alloy

Based on the rapid development of three-dimensional (3D) printing, the fabrication of the 3D printed products which can change their shapes over time has been termed as four-dimensional (4D) printing. Since the functionality is generally limited by available materials, especially for fused deposition modeling (FDM, a trendy technology of 3D printing), it has aroused widespread requirements to develop a novel filament with excellent properties and functionalities. In this study, polypropylene/nylon 6 (PP/PA6) alloy was fabricated as a candidate for FDM and maleic anhydride-grafted poly(ethylene–octene) (POE-g-MAH) was used as a modifying agent as well as a compatibilizer. The results showed that the PP/PA6 alloy with 30 wt% of PA6 on the basis of the certain mass ratio of PP and POE-g-MAH (1.5:1) exhibited a high dimensional stability and appropriate mechanical properties in FDM. In addition, the possibility of PP/PA6 alloy as a shape memory polymer blend and the mechanism of shape memory effect (SME) were investigated. The 3D printed product with 30 wt% of PA6 fabricated by the infill orientation of 45°/− 45° and 100% infill density exhibited a great SME with the deformation temperature (Td) of 175 °C. This simple method for preparation of a novel filament with shape memory performance based on PP/PA6 alloy has a vast potential for the development of 4D printing technology.

A 3D printed melt-compounded antibiotic loaded thermoplastic polyurethane heart valve ring design: an integrated framework of experimental material tests and numerical simulations

Heart diseases are one of the commonest causes of death worldwide. These include valve pathologies such as valve stenosis, regurgitation, failure and similar, for which usually a valve substitution procedure is required. Different prosthesis alternatives (both biological and artificial) are nowadays available in the heart surgery panorama, but there are still issues and aspects to improve. The principal requirements for heart valve prostheses are an efficient fluid dynamic function and long-term durability without the need for anticoagulation therapy, coupled with the possibility of patient-specific customization. Given this scenario, the presented tasks might be fulfilled by the recent advances of additive manufacturing technology (AM), which offers versatility of shapes and materials to be printed.In this work, the full flexibility of AM technique has been exploited to demonstrate the feasibility of a custom drug-loaded polymeric heart valve ring for crimpable prostheses. Two different medical-grade polymeric filaments for AM have been extruded: an aromatic Polyester-Based Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU-E) and a Thermoplastic Silicone-Polycarbonate-urethane compound filament (TSPCU). Both materials find different applications in medical fields, thanks to their mechanical and biocompatibility features.A drug-loading procedure has been set to obtain an antibiotic-filled polymer material and the relative biocompatibility has been consequently investigated. Specimens have been printed with a Fused Deposition Method and uniaxial traction tests have been performed at different printing temperatures and infill orientation angles. To evaluate the damaging risk given by the HVR crimping process, a Finite Element (FE) simulation of the crimping load has been set.The TSPCU has appeared to be the best material to realize the prosthesis in terms of tensile stress values. The ultimate mechanical characteristics of TSPCU have resulted to be higher if compared with TPU-E, regardless of raster orientation angle and temperature. The qualitative characterization of the drug loading process of TSPCU has been successful: standard disc diffusion method has revealed a well-defined inhibition zone on the bacterial culture. The effectiveness of the antibiotic has been maintained even after the extrusion and the printing process. The simulated crimping procedure on the HVR has revealed that the maximum Von Mises stress value is below the ultimate stress taken from experimental tests. The reported results demonstrate the feasibility of a crimpable antibiotic loaded HVR realized through TSPCU 3D printing.

Influence of infill properties on flexural rigidity of 3D-printed structural members

ABSTRACTThis paper characterises the flexural properties of relatively slender structural members (beams) manufactured using a FDM-based 3D printer. The primary goal is to assess the influence of infill properties on flexural rigidity through a parametric investigation. Infill percentage, infill orientation, and member thickness provided the parametric variation. The beams were tested by three-point bending, free vibration, and buckling. The tests showed that flexural rigidity varied linearly with infill percentage over most of the range considered, but fell off quickly below 10% infill. The optimal infill percentage that maximised specific flexural rigidity (flexural rigidity to length density) of the beams was determined to be between 10% and 20%.

Effect of temperature on the mechanical properties of 3D-printed PLA tensile specimens

PurposeRecent advancements of 3D printing technology have brought forward the interest for this technique in many engineering fields. This study aims to focus on mechanical properties of the polylactic acid (PLA) feeding material under different thermal conditions for a typical fusion deposition of 3D printer system.Design/methodology/approachSpecimens were tested under static loading within the range 20ºC to 60ºC considering different infill orientations. The combined effect of temperature and filament orientation is investigated in terms of constitutive material parameters and final failure mechanisms. The difference between feeding system before and post-3D printing was also assessed by mechanical test on feeding filament to verify the thermal profile during the deposition phase.FindingsThe results in terms of Young’s modulus, ultimate tensile strength (UTS), strain at failure (εf) and stress at failure (σf) are presented and discussed to study the influence of process settings over the final deposited material. Fracture surfaces have been investigated using an optical microscope to link the phenomenological interpretation of the failure with the micro-mechanical behaviour. Experimental results show a strong correlation between stiffness and strength with the infill orientation and the temperature values. Moreover, a relevant effect is related to deformed geometry of the filament approaching glass transition region of the polymer according to the deposition orientation.Research limitations/implicationsThe developed method can be applied to optimise the stiffness and strength of any 3D-printed composite according to the infill orientation.Practical implicationsTo avoid the failure of specimens outside the gauge length, a previously proposed modification to the geometry was adopted. The geometry has a parabolic profile with a curvature of 1,000 mm tangent to the middle part of the specimen.Originality/valueSeveral authors have reported the stiffness and strength of 3D-printed parts under static and ambient temperature for different build parameters. However, there is a lack of literature on the combination of the latter with the temperature effects on the mechanical properties which this paper covers.