Additive Manufacturing is currently growing fast, especially fused deposition modeling (FDM), also known as fused filament fabrication (FFF). When manufacturing parts use FDM, there are two key parameters—strength of the part and dimensional accuracy—that need to be considered. Although FDM is a popular technology for fabricating prototypes with complex geometry and other part product with reduced cycle time, it is also limited by several drawbacks including inadequate mechanical properties and reduced dimensional accuracy. It is evident that part qualities are greatly influenced by the various process parameters, therefore an extensive review of the effects of the following process parameters was carried out: infill density, infill patterns, extrusion temperature, layer thickness, nozzle diameter, raster angle and build orientation on the mechanical properties. It was found from the literature that layer thickness is the most important factor among the studied ones. Although manipulation of process parameters makes significant differences in the quality and mechanical properties of the printed part, the ideal combination of parameters is challenging to achieve. Hence, this study also includes the influence of pre-processing of the printed part to improve the part strength and new research trends such as, vacuum-assisted FDM that has shown to improve the quality of the printing due to improved bonding between the layers. Advances in materials and technologies that are currently under development are presented. For example, the pre-deposition heating method, using an IR lamp of other technologies, shows a positive impact on the mechanical properties of the printed parts.

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Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the most affordable and widespread additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. Despite its simplistic implementation, the physics behind this FDM process is very complex and involves rapid heating and cooling of the polymer feedstock. As a result, highly non-uniform internal stresses develop within the part, which can cause warpage deformation. The severity of the warpage is highly dependent on the process parameters involved, and therefore, currently extensive experimental studies are ongoing to assess their influence on the final accuracy of the part. In this study, a thermomechanical Finite Element model of the 3D printing process was developed using ANSYS. This model was compared against experimental results and several other analytical models available in the literature. The developed Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model demonstrated a good qualitative and quantitative correlation with the experimental results. An L9 orthogonal array, from Taguchi Design of Experiments, was used for the optimization of the warpage based on experimental results and numerical simulations. The optimum process parameters were identified for each objective and parts were printed using these process parameters. Both parts showed an approximately equal warpage value of 320 μm, which was the lowest among all 10 runs of the L9 array. Additionally, this model is extended to predict the warpage of FDM printed multi-material parts. The relative percentage error between the numerical and experimental warpage results for alternating and sandwich specimens are found to be 1.4% and 9.5%, respectively.