COMPARISON STUDY ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF 3D PRINTED PLA AND PLA/ALUMINIUM COMPOSITES USING FUSED DEPOSITION MODELING TECHNIQUE

Nor Aiman Sukindar; Sharifah Imihezri  Syed Shaharuddin; Shafie  Kamruddin; Ahmad Zahirani  Ahmad Azhar; Chuan Choong Yang

Nor Aiman Sukindar International Islamic University Malaysia
Sharifah Imihezri Syed Shaharuddin International Islamic University Malaysia
Shafie Kamruddin International Islamic University Malaysia
Ahmad Zahirani Ahmad Azhar International Islamic University Malaysia
Chuan Choong Yang International Islamic University Malaysia

Keywords: tensile strength, PLA/Aluminium, fused deposition modeling

Abstract

3D printing technology has been developed to produce prototype and end used parts. The demand is increasing recently making this technology a popular choice for the industry especially using fused deposition modeling (FDM) method. A common material used for this FDM technology is polylactic acid (PLA) as it is sustainable, low cost, and compatible with the system. However new materials need to be developed for a specific application for example PLA composite to improve the existing PLA. The need to study the mechanical properties and effect of printing parameters on the printed parts of different materials is essential to achieve the desired output. This study intends to compare the tensile strength of PLA and PLA/Aluminium composite by manipulating several printing parameters using Taguchi's design of experiment (DOE) method. The result shows that PLA exhibits better tensile performance compared to PLA/Aluminium composite. The ANOVA analysis also shows that the number of shells provide the main factor in affecting the tensile strength for both materials.