Effects of fused deposition modeling process parameters on tensile, dynamic mechanical properties of 3D printed polylactic acid materials

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is an important process among the available additive manufacturing technologies in various industries. Although there exists many works investigating the effects of FDM process parameters on the mechanical properties of printed materials, there are still several points need to be studied. One is the effects of process parameters on the dynamic mechanical properties of FDM-printed materials, especially in environments where the temperature often changes. The other is the mechanism by which process parameters affect the mechanical properties of printed materials. Aiming at these two points, uniaxial tensile tests and dynamic mechanical analysis are carried out respectively to characterize the tensile properties and dynamic mechanical properties of FDM-printed PLA materials under different FDM process parameters, namely printing angle, layer thickness, fill rate and nozzle temperature. Based on the experimental results explanations are given for the influence of the FDM process parameters on the mechanical properties of the printed materials.