OPTIMIZATION OF ACCURACY AND SURFACE ROUGHNESS OF 3D SLA PRINTED MATERIALS WITH RESPONSE SURFACE METHOD

Abstract

3D printers are used frequently for rapid prototyping and production. SLA (stereolithographic) printers, widely used in areas requiring precision production, form the final shape by solidifying the liquid resin with UV rays. In SLA printing, the final figure is created by changing many printing parameters. For this reason, surface integrity and precision of measurements vary. Dimensional accuracy (DA) and surface roughness (SR) outputs should be investigated for precise printing. Therefore, the effects on SR and DA output parameters were investigated by changing the layer height, exposure time, and lift input parameters with the Response Surface Method (RSM). The effective parameters for both outputs are layer height and lift. As the layer height and lift increased, the SR and DA values of the printed parts increased. The predicted results calculated with the regression equations and the experimental results were quite close. Optimum input parameters were found by multi-response optimization. Accordingly, the 8th experiment, 0.05mm-4s-1.5mm, was the best parameter. The difference between the predicted and experimental values for multi-response optimization was 4.28% for SR and 0.27% for DA. Thus, effective parameters for SR and DA have been determined for precision production in SLA printers.