Effect of print orientation on mechanical material behavior in fused deposition modeling 3-D printing

Abstract

Additive manufacturing, also known as 3-D printing, has in recent years experienced a meteoric rise in relevance and application that has seen the technology be used in wide range of industries, from aerospace to construction to healthcare. However, many of the methods used for 3-D printing, such as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), are layer-based processes, resulting in anisotropic material behavior of the printed object. Thus, the print orientation of the object is a crucial factor in its mechanical properties, such as strength and elastic modulus. While anisotropy in 3-D printing has been extensively studied, a gap in current research exists because previous literature only considered different orthogonal configurations of specimen orientation. This thesis investigates the effect of print orientation on the tensile mechanical material properties of FDM printed test specimens in finer detail. By analyzing many print orientations in between the orthogonal configurations, this project seeks to develop a better, higher resolution understanding of anisotropic behavior that could inform engineers and designers about how to account for anisotropy in their prints.