Mechanical Properties Analysis of 3D-Printed Polymers: Impact of Material Type, Layer Thickness, and Build Orientation

Abstract

3D printing is a promising technology offering minimal production times, lower costs and high-quality resolution. It would be beneficial to use 3D printing approach for production purposes since this technology allows for object production with minimal steps comparing to the traditional manufacturing methods. Several studies have recently used additive manufacturing techniques to create a variety of polymeric objects for various uses. This work assesses the tensile properties of Polylactic acid (PLA) and polycarbonate (PC) materials, considering the effects of material type, layer thickness and building orientation. Upon this study, finding showed that PC consistently exceeded PLA in terms of ultimate tensile force, stress and strain values, and demonstrated better mechanical properties. These values remained relatively consistent across different layer thicknesses tested (1 mm and 3 mm). Within the tested range of layer thicknesses, mechanical proprieties of specimens were not significantly affected by this parameter. In fact, the building orientation had a significant impact on tensile characteristics. For PC samples, the horizontal orientation generally resulted in higher ultimate force, ultimate stress and strain values compared to the vertical orientation. Similarly, PLA samples showed higher ultimate force and ultimate stress in the horizontal orientation, while strain values were comparable between horizontal and vertical orientations. This draws attention to the 3D-printed materials anisotropic proprieties and implies that the horizontal orientation is ideal for maximum tensile strength.