Assessing the effect of FDM processing parameters on mechanical properties of PLA parts using Taguchi method

Abstract

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is a fast-expanding additive manufacturing technique for fabricating various polymer components in engineering and medical applications. The mechanical properties of components printed with the FDM method are influenced by several process parameters. In the current work, the influence of nozzle temperature, infill density, and printing speed on the tensile properties of specimens printed using polylactic acid (PLA) filament was investigated. With an objective to achieve better tensile properties including elastic modulus, tensile strength, and fracture strain; Taguchi L8 array has been used for framing experimental runs, and eight experiments were conducted. The results demonstrate that the nozzle temperature significantly influences the tensile properties of the FDM printed PLA products followed by infill density. The optimum processing parameters were determined for the FDM printed PLA material at a nozzle temperature of 220°C, infill density of 100%, and printing speed of 20 mm/s.