Finite Element Analysis to Improve the Accuracy of ABS Plastic Parts Made by Desktop 3D Printing Method

Abstract

The development of low-cost desktop versions of three-dimensional (3D) printers has made these devices widely accessible for rapid prototyping and small-scale manufacturing in home and office settings. Many desktop 3D printers rely fused deposition modeling process, that it is based on heated thermoplastic filiform material that it is extrused through a nozzle and deposited afterwards onto a heated building platform. The extruding accuracy in part fabrication is subject to transmission machinery and filament diameter on one hand and the technological parameters that are used in the manufacturing process (raster angle, tool path, slice thickness, build orientation, deposition speed, building temperature, etc.) on the other hand. The presented work try to investigate by using the finite element method, how the building temperature in close connection with the material characteristics is influencing the accuracy of a test part that has been designed in order to callibrate an Desktop 3D Printer machine that has been originally designed and produced at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (TUC-N).