Bulk post-treatment of FDM-printed samples

Abstract

For small-scale and single production, FDM printing is considered as a technology competing with the well-known method – injection molding. However, due to the specifics of the printing process associated with layer-by-layer formation printed parts are significantly inferior to parts obtained by injection molding in terms of strength and surface quality, minimizing the advantages of 3D-printing. The methods that make it possible to improve the physical and mechanical characteristics of a printed parts include bulk treatment methods based on thermal effects on the whole part. The aim of this paper is to compare the technologies of bulk thermal post-processing in terms of the effect on the physical and mechanical properties of FDM-printed samples. Three methods of bulk thermal post-treatment are considered: annealing in a dispersed environment, annealing in a dispersed environment with pressure, annealing in a vacuum bag. The properties and deformations of ABS plastic samples printed by the FDM-method are investigated. The research results showed that all the considered technologies of bulk post-treatment of FDM-printed samples can be considered promising to improving physical and mechanical properties. The best results of minimizing deformations after annealing are observed after treatment in a dispersed environment consisting of gypsum powder. The obtained unsatisfactory results of changing the sizes of samples annealing in a vacuum bag may be related to the imperfection of this post-treatment method.