Polymer additive manufacturing of ABS structure: Influence of printing direction on mechanical properties

The present study relates to Polymers Additive Manufacturing (PAM) traditionally used for rapid prototyping operations. The use of PAM components as functional parts is still marginal compared to injection molded components. This is due to the uncertainty on their mechanical properties and to the present knowledge on PAM products. A new additive manufacturing technology has been integrated in the free former-Arburg machine. It was inspired by injection molding technology and creates plastic parts using layers built up from tiny droplets of polymer. In this work, the mechanical characterization of thermoplastic polymer parts obtained by Arburg Plastic Free forming (APF) is studied. Additionally the mechanical properties of polymer specimens obtained by injection molding as a conventional process are studied in order to evaluate the influence of the manufacturing process on the parts mechanical behavior. The tensile mechanical properties are evaluated by varying some manufacturing parameters, such as the printing path. Microstructural analyses have been performed to better understand the relationship between the manufacturing process and the final mechanical properties.