Printing strategies to fabricate a disk through the fused deposition modeling method

Abstract

The fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique is widely used in different industries due to its low cost and ability to produce complex geometries from polymers. In this technique, some manufacturing parameters are essential because of their effects on the mechanical performance of the final fabricated part. The current study investigated the impact of path strategy and printing speed, two key manufacturing factors, on the mechanical performance of printed disks. Six types of path strategies of rasters corresponding to the loading direction, namely unidirectional-vertical, unidirectional-horizontal, unidirectional-45, cross, cross-45, and concentrate, were used for printing some disks, and compressive tests were done on them. The results showed that these path strategies’ average compressive failure loads were 2955, 4957, 2342, 4640, 3971, and 5893 N, respectively. The lower compressive strength of the unidirectional path pattern was due to the weak zones that were located between the printed layers and rasters. Besides, three printing speeds of 40, 60, and 80 mm/s were considered to fabricate the disks with a concentrate path pattern, and compressive experiments were performed. The results showed that the 40 mm/s printing speed conducted a compressive failure load of 4544 N, while 60 and 80 mm/s resulted in 3008 and 2828 N, respectively. Finally, inter-layer strength as a major factor in controlling the compressive strength of the disks was comprehensively discussed.