The Transferability and Design of Commercial Printer Settings in PLA/PBAT Fused Filament Fabrication

Abstract

In many fused filament fabrication (FFF) processes, commercial printers are used, but rarely are printer settings transferred from one commercial printer to the other to give similar final tensile part performance. Here, we report such translation going from the Felix 3.0 to Prusa i3 MK3 printer by adjusting the flow rate and overlap of strands, utilizing an in-house developed blend of polylactic acid (PLA) and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT). We perform a sensitivity analysis for the Prusa printer, covering variations in nozzle temperature, nozzle diameter, layer thickness, and printing speed (Tnozzle, dnozzle, LT, and vprint), aiming at minimizing anisotropy and improving interlayer bonding. Higher mass, larger width, and thickness are obtained with larger dnozzle, lower vprint, higher LT, and higher Tnozzle. A higher vprint results in less tensile strain at break, but it remains at a high strain value for samples printed with dnozzle equal to 0.5 mm. vprint has no significant effect on the tensile modulus and tensile and impact strength of the samples. If LT is fixed, an increased dnozzle is beneficial for the tensile strength, ductility, and impact strength of the printed sample due to better bonding from a wider raster structure, while an increased LT leads to deterioration of mechanical properties. If the ratio dnozzle/LT is greater than 2, a good tensile performance is obtained. An improved Tnozzle leads to a sufficient flow of material, contributing to the performance of the printed device. The considerations brought forward result in a deeper understanding of the FFF process and offer guidance about parameter selection. The optimal dnozzle/vprint/LT/Tnozzle combination is 0.5 mm/120 mm s−1/0.15 mm/230 °C.

Tuning Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Polydimethylsiloxane with Carbon Fibers

“…The results of the tension tests for the CF/PDMS samples showed a decrease in the elongation, ultimate strength, and toughness, but an increase in the Young’s Modulus with increasing CF loadings. Microscopic investigation in previous works showed that holes, voids, and other defects are formed by moving CFs in the PDMS polymer matrix when stress was applied to the material [ 44 , 47 ]. The accumulation of these defects in the CF-containing samples likely caused the sample to break before reaching the same ultimate strength and elongation as the PDMS pristine.…”

Novel advancements in additive manufacturing of PLA: A review

“…Felix reference curve in black. With f‐o rate 110%–25%, this curve can be approached; (b) diagram of strands/rasters in the tensile bar simulated with varying nozzle diameter; (C) influence of d nozzle and v print on (A) mass, (B) width, and (C) thickness of PLA@PBAT printed at 210°C and (d–f) comparison to the results of samples printed at 230 C with fixed LT 0.15 mm; (D) (a) PLA@PBAT viscosity based on shear rate and melt flow index (MFI) measured at varying temperatures; (b) DSC curves of specimens 42 …”

Use of Polyesters in Fused Deposition Modeling for Biomedical Applications

“…Wang et al. [ 247 ] produced blends with different PLA/PHB weight ratios, ranging from 20/80 to 80/20, and then obtained filaments for FDM and studied their thermal and mechanical properties. The presence of PHB permitted to print the blends at a lower temperature (190 °C) than pure PLA (210 °C), due to a decrease in the flow index values.…”

“…Better results also in terms of mechanical properties (elongation at break) were found for 80/20 PLA/PHB blends. [ 247 ] Ecker et al. [ 248 ] used the same PLA/PHA ratio, but they employed a proprietary PHA copolymer instead of PHB.…”

“…Compared to PLA, the mechanical strength was reduced, but elongation at break was 40 times higher, in accordance to what was reported elsewhere for blends with a PLA content higher than PHA. [ 247,248 ] A ductility improvement was found by processing the material at 210 °C. [ 250 ] Accordingly, Guessasma et al.…”