Effects of Infill Line Multiplier and Patterns on Mechanical Properties of Lightweight and Resilient Hollow Section Products Manufactured Using Fused Filament Fabrication

Abstract

Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is a popular additive manufacturing process for creating prototypes and end-use products. Infill patterns, which fill the interior of hollow FFF-printed objects, play a crucial role in determining the mechanical properties and structural integrity of hollow structures. This study investigates the effects of infill line multipliers and different infill patterns (hexagonal, grid, and triangle) on the mechanical properties of 3D printed hollow structures. Thermoplastic poly lactic acid (PLA) was used as the material for 3D-printed components. Infill densities of 25%, 50%, and 75% were chosen, along with a line multiplier of one. The results indicate that the hexagonal infill pattern consistently demonstrated the highest Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) of 1.86 MPa across all infill densities, out-performing the other two patterns. To maintain a sample weight below 10 g, a two-line multiplier was utilised for a 25% infill density sample. Remarkably, this combination exhibited a UTS value of 3.57 MPa, which is comparable to samples printed at 50% infill density, which were 3.83 MPa. This research highlights the importance of line multiplier in combination with infill density and infill pattens to ensuring the achievement of the desired mechanical properties in the final product.

FDM 3D Printing and Properties of PBS/PLA Blends

“…Figure 2 shows the microscopic morphologies of the fracture surfaces of PLA and PBS/PLA blends. The fracture surface of the original PLA was smooth and flat, as observed in the SEM images (Figure 2a), indicating that PLA broke in a brittle manner; this type of fracture manner had previously been reported by some literature [39,40]. After blending with PBS, the microscopic morphologies of the samples containing 5-30% PBS are shown in Figure 2b-g, which are a little rougher than that of neat PLA; in these situations, the blends broke in a ductile manner.…”