Abstract
In recent years, due to the advent of 3D printing technology, a radical change has been noticed in the manufacturing of parts, particularly in the aerospace and automobile industries. It is hypothesized that by systematically varying the infill densities and raster angles in the 3D printing process, the mechanical properties of polymer composites can be improved significantly striking a balance between increased structural integrity, reduced material consumption and cost-efficiency. Therefore, in this work, we investigated the effect of different raster angles (0°, 45° and 90°) and infill percentages (25%–100%) on the flexural and thermo-mechanical properties of polylactic acid (PLA) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) composites processed with Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) method. Results showed that the anisotropic behavior of both PLA and ABS samples is highly influenced by the raster angle, with 0° raster giving the highest flexure modulus. Additionally, the infill percentage significantly influenced the sample’s overall flexural strength. The PLA samples with a raster angle of 0° and a 50% infill showed a flexural strength of 167.72 MPa, while the ABS samples, also with a 0° raster angle but at a 75% infill, showed a flexural strength of 125.92 MPa. The results showed a significant enhancement in flexural strength and under optimized conditions. Similarly, the dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) results showed the storage modulus and loss modulus properties of both PLA and ABS. Given the success of optimizing PLA and ABS, future research could explore integrating other materials or multi-material printing. These observations serve as a helpful starting point for creating guidelines and suggestions for improving 3D printing procedures leading to time and cost savings and expanding the potential of additive manufacturing in polymer and their fiber-reinforced composites.
