Study of compressive behaviour on 3D printed ABS polymer lattice structures infilled with epoxy and polyester resins

Abstract

The 3D printing process is a design driven manufacturing process. The complex shaped structures can be produced in a short lead time with high precision percentage. The functionally graded polymer oriented cellular structures are possessing great energy absorbing ability. In recent years, the application of cellular structures are highly utilized in 3D printing process for developing functional prototypes without compromising strength to weight ratio. In this study, a novel approach to develop functionally graded uniformly open porous structures of fixed volumetric proportions are created and it is selectively infilled with polyester and epoxy resins. After curing process the samples were tested for analyzing the improvement of compressive behaviour. The results of the compressive behaviour were compared between non-porous structures, resin infilled porous structures and non - resin infilled porous structures. The intensity between bonding of the infilled resins with the boundary of the porous structures are validated with the help of VMS image. The resin infilled lattice structures showed a significant improvement in the compressive strength when compared with the non-porous structures and non - resin infilled lattice structures. The interface between the resin and the base material also exhibited good adherence which promises the usage of this methodology in creating more customized hybrid composite materials for the various applications by using 3D printing technique.