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Abstract

Thermal annealing can be implemented to improve the mechanical strength of a 3D-printed object. The critical parameters of thermal annealing are temperature and holding time. Based on the literature review, the implemented annealing temperature affects the required holding time. As using a lower annealing temperature and holding time can reduce the required heat and increase the efficiency of the process, this research investigates the implementation of the annealing temperature near the glass transition temperature with a short holding time. The aim of this research is to investigate the influence of the thermal annealing temperature range of 65°C to 85°C and the holding time of 45 minutes to 75 minutes on the ultimate tensile strength of a polylactic acid part printed using fused deposition modeling. The experiment implemented a 3 2 -factorial design methodology with two replications. The experiment results show that thermal annealing slightly above the glass transition temperature promotes higher interlayer diffusion of raster and layers, increasing ultimate tensile strength. Meanwhile, the investigated holding time does not influence the ultimate tensile strength of the annealed part. As the holding time range might not be able to accomplish the maximum crystallization for the annealing temperature range between 65°C and 85°C, further research is required to study the influence of a longer holding time on the ultimate tensile strength of the specimen annealed at a slightly above the glass transition temperature.