Geometrical and mechanical performance of multi-material fused deposition modelling

Abstract

One method that has been used on additive manufacturing process is fused deposition modelling (FDM). This method employs material extrusion in the form of filament to build a product. Several materials have been developed as the filament, each with its own mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties. Certain FDM machines are capable to print filaments from different materials. Although, each materials require different printing parameters. Consequently, different geometrical and mechanical properties from same design may be produced from their different printing parameters. Therefore, in order to obtain the characteristic of FDM machine output on multi-material, a comparative study is conducted. Lattice structures constructed from 3D CAD model with difference in pore configuration are printed by different filament materials on same FDM machine. We investigate the geometrical and mechanical properties of the structure, especially on the capability of the lattice structure to bear compressive load. There are 42-53% of pore dimension difference between the printed structure and the design despite material variation is used for each pore configuration.