On Surface Finish and Dimensional Accuracy of FDM Parts after Cold Vapor Treatment

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) process is an additive manufacturing technology where objects are manufactured in layers. In the present days, FDM is commercially used to build prototypes, functional components; however, these parts majorly suffer from poor surface quality and dimensional accuracy even for basic part geometries. In the present paper, first the effect of part deposition orientation on surface finish and dimensional accuracy of FDM parts are studied. The part selected for this study is designed in such a way that different primitive geometric features at different directions are present. The parts are built at different orientations (0 degrees, 15 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees, 75 degrees, 90 degrees) using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene P430 material, and surface finish and dimensional accuracy are measured at different surfaces. Next, the FDM parts are postprocessed by cold vapor treatment of dimethylketone (acetone) and improvement in surface finish and change in dimensional accuracy are investigated. The results show that surface finish of the components is greatly improved by this vapor treatment process with minimal variations in part geometric accuracy after the treatment.