Surface polish of PLA parts in FDM using dichloromethane vapour

Abstract

Abstract. Fused deposition modelling has become one of the most diffused rapid prototyping techniques, which is widely used to fabricate prototypes. However, further application of this technology is severely limited by poor surface roughness. Thus it is necessary to adopt some operations to improve surface quality. Chemical finishing is typically employed to finish parts in fused deposition modelling (FDM). The purpose of this paper is to decrease the surface roughness for polylactic acid (PLA) parts in FDM. The chemical reaction mechanism during the treating process is analysed. Then NaOH solution and dichloromethane vapour are used to treat FDM specimens respectively. A 3D laser microscope has been applied to assess the effects in terms of surface topography and roughness. The experimental results show that treatment using dichloromethane vapour performs much better than NaOH solution. Compared with the untreated group, surface roughness obtained through vapour treatment decreases by 88 per cent. This research has been conducted to provide a better method to treat PLA parts using chemical reagents.

Biodegradable polymer composites used in rapid prototyping technology by Melt Extrusion Polymers (MEP)

“…Another article [47] presents a quick, economical and easy to use chemical treatment of the element, which is based on the possibility of using dichloromethane and sodium hydroxide to finish the surface of the element. The results obtained on a 3D laser microscope allow to state that the use of dichloromethane vapors gives better results (reduction of roughness results by 88%) in comparison to NaOH.…”

Chemical vapor treatment to improve surface finish of 3D printed polylactic acid (PLA) parts realized by fused filament fabrication

“…However, recently, great interest arose for the PLA material, as already discussed in the introduction, considering both mechanical properties and surface finishing treatments [11,21,[34][35][36]. In particular, chemical surface finishing treatment was applied in [37] through a NaOH solution and dichloromethane vapors, obtaining a decrease of the surface roughness. Dichloromethane vapors were also used in [38], where the evolution of the surface topography during the chemical treatment was also represented by a geometrical model.…”

Consumable additive FDM models in the production of aluminum alloy castings

“…В настоящей работе для уменьшения шероховатости поверхности выжигаемых моделей из PLA (рис. 3, а) использовали растворитель дихлорметан (CH 2 Cl 2 ) [31]. Согласно проведенным исследованиям выдержка модели в дихлорметане в течение 10 с приводит к сглаживанию ее поверхности (рис.…”