Influence of 3D Printing FDM Process Parameters on Tensile Property of ULTEM 9085

Abstract

3D printing is a promising digital manufacturing technique that produces parts, layer by layer. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is a widely employed 3D printing technology that produces components by heating, extruding and depositing filaments of thermoplastic polymers. The properties of FDM-produced parts are significantly influenced by the processing parameters. These processing parameters have conflicting advantages that need to be investigated. This paper investigates the effect of process parameters on the tensile properties of components produced by FDM technique. The study is carried out on high-performance ULTEM 9085 polymeric material, by using full factorial design of experiment to analyze the effects of process parameters on the tensile properties of the material. For the investigation, five parameters – air gap, raster width, raster angle, contour number and contour width – are considered. From the investigation, it is observed that, among the considered parameters, only one parameter (raster angle) significantly influenced the tensile properties of the material.