Evaluation of the changes in mechanical properties of 3D printed parts resulting from variation of basic 3D printing parameters

Abstract

The advances in additive manufacturing techniques in recent years, especially the development of 3D printing techniques for polymer and metal 3D printing see rise of the use in these techniques in deferent fields of industry, like automotive, oil and gas and aero and space. Using these techniques for on demand manufacturing of spare parts used parallel to existing manufacturing techniques introduces the need for good evaluation of the mechanical properties of the 3D printed part. This paper evaluates the changes in the mechanical properties of standard parts used for ISO standards evaluation of parts made with polymeric materials. To this end we 3D print standard part with different basic 3D printing properties like, layer height, line width, infill density, number of perimeters and infill orientation. These parts are tested using the ISO standard for tensile measurements of plastic parts analyzing the elastic modulus, maximum force at break, the creep of the material. From acquired data we evaluate the optimal 3D printing properties needed to establish the best mechanical parameters of the 3D printed part.