Tensile Strength Analysis of Thin-Walled Polymer Glass Fiber Reinforced Samples Manufactured by 3D Printing Technology

The paper describes the mechanical properties, determined on the basis of a tensile strength test of a composite material based on glass-fiber reinforced polyamide and obtained by Selective Laser Sintering-SLS. The material used is PA 3200 GF. Thin walled samples with non-standard nominal thicknesses of 1, 1.4 and 1.8 mm, manufactured in three printing directions X, Y and Z, were used. The description included the impact of printing direction on the geometry of the obtained samples and tensile strength as well as the dependency of tensile strength on the sample thickness. The results can be useful for design engineers and process engineers designing thin-walled components produced with SLS. Thin samples were obtained with a considerable deviation spread of the actual dimension from the nominal one. It was found that the tensile strength of thin samples is much lower than those of standard cross-sections, which should be taken into account in the design of thin-walled elements.