Experimental investigation of the creep behavior of test specimens manufactured with fused filament fabrication using different manufacturing parameters

Abstract

The use of additively manufactured products has increased with the rapid development of the additive manufacturing technologies. There are many different techniques of additive manufacturing method. Material extrusion technique is one of these techniques. Fused filament fabrication (FFF) method is one of the most used methods within the scope of this technique. Especially the FFF method has become intensely used, with the widespread use of 3D printers. Many different parameters are used in the manufacturing processes performed with FFF using 3D printers. These parameters directly affect the mechanical, functional and visual properties of the product. There are significant changes in the dimensions of the products manufactured using polymer materials with 3D printers, due to creep under static loading conditions. For this reason, it will be beneficial for designers to examine the effects of different manufacturing parameters on the creep behavior of polymer materials manufactured with 3D printers using FFF method. In this study, creep test specimens were manufactured using Polylactic acid (PLA) material in a 3D printer with different manufacturing parameters (printing angle, nozzle diameter, layer thickness). Creep tests were carried out for the manufactured test specimens under different temperature and loading conditions. The primary and secondary creep stages of the material were taken into account in the tests. As a result of the tests performed, it was determined that the ambient temperature was the most effective parameter on creep. In addition, it was determined that the variation of printing angle, layer thickness and nozzle diameter significantly affected the creep behavior of the polymer material manufactured with the 3D printer.