Anisotropic material properties of fused deposition modeling ABS

TLDR

Rapid Prototyping technologies, such as Stratasys Fused Deposition Modeling, enable fabrication of prototypes from ABS plastic, but predicting their mechanical behavior requires understanding how FDM process parameters affect anisotropic material properties. This study characterizes the mechanical properties of ABS parts produced by the FDM 1650 printer. Using a Design of Experiments approach, the authors varied raster orientation, air gap, bead width, color, and model temperature, then measured tensile and compressive strengths of directionally fabricated specimens and compared them to injection‑molded FDM ABS P400. With a 0.003‑inch road overlap, FDM parts exhibited tensile strengths of 65–72 % and compressive strengths of 80–90 % of injection‑molded ABS P400, and the authors derived several design rules from these results.

Abstract

Rapid Prototyping (RP) technologies provide the ability to fabricate initial prototypes from various model materials. Stratasys Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is a typical RP process that can fabricate prototypes out of ABS plastic. To predict the mechanical behavior of FDM parts, it is critical to understand the material properties of the raw FDM process material, and the effect that FDM build parameters have on anisotropic material properties. This paper characterizes the properties of ABS parts fabricated by the FDM 1650. Using a Design of Experiment (DOE) approach, the process parameters of FDM, such as raster orientation, air gap, bead width, color, and model temperature were examined. Tensile strengths and compressive strengths of directionally fabricated specimens were measured and compared with injection molded FDM ABS P400 material. For the FDM parts made with a 0.003 inch overlap between roads, the typical tensile strength ranged between 65 and 72 percent of the strength of injection molded ABS P400. The compressive strength ranged from 80 to 90 percent of the injection molded FDM ABS. Several build rules for designing FDM parts were formulated based on experimental results.