The Impact of Defects on Tensile Strength and Modulus of 3D Printed Parts Manufactured by Fused deposition Modeling

Additive manufacturing (AM), 3D printing, is defined as a process of depositing materials layer by layer to create three-dimensional printed models, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies. It has the potential of revolutionizing field of manufacturing, which allows us to create more complex geometries with lower cost and faster speed in comparison to injection molding, compression forming, and forging. Therefore, 3D printing can shorten the design manufacturing cycle, reduce the production cost, and increase the competitiveness. Due to the improvements of processes and advancements of modeling and design, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technologies, a common 3D printing technique, have been involved in wide various applications in the past three decades and numerous studies have been gathered. This research work studies directional properties of FDM 3D printed thermoplastic parts per ASTM D638. Tensile strength and modulus of the coupons along and perpendicular to the printing direction are evaluated. It is observed that FDM 3D printing introduces anisotropic behavior to the manufactured part, e.g. tensile strength of 57.7 and 30.8 MPa for loading along and perpendicular to the printing direction, respectively. FDM 3D printers are not ideal and introduce defects into the manufactured parts, e.g. in the form of missing material, gap. This study investigates the impact of gaps on tensile strength and modulus of 3D printed parts. A maximum reduction of 20% in strength is found for a gap (missing bead) along the loading direction.