Comparative Study of Impact Behavior of Fused Filament Fabrication-printed Polylactic Acid Composites

Abstract

Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is a frequently utilised Additive Manufacturing (AM) method, because of its low equipment costs and user-friendliness. Carbon-based reinforcements including carbon fibres, graphene, and multi-walled carbon nano tubes can be used to increase impact resistance of polylactic acid (PLA) and therefore its applicability in dissimilar fields. In this work, FFF process is used to analyse and compare the impact properties of three different types of reinforced PLA composites made from carbon fibre, graphene, and multi-walled carbon nano tubes. Energy absorption and impact strength (IS) are studied in relation to the selected process parameters, which include raster orientation (0°, 45°, and 90°), feed rate (20 mm/s, 40 mm/s, and 60 mm/s), and layer thickness (0.10 mm, 0.15 mm, and 0.20 mm). The morphology of failure in specimens can also be studied with high-end microscopy. Using ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) and Taguchi methods, the data analysis is performed for the dependency of IS on the selected process parameters and find that the raster orientation and layer thickness have the principal influence on IS, followed by the filament material and feed rate. Maximum IS of the specimen is 29.980 kJ/m2 at 0.20 mm layer height, 45° raster orientation, and 20 mm/s feed rate for carbon fibre reinforcement.