Anisotropic mechanical properties of fused deposition modeled parts fabricated by using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene polymer

Abstract

The anisotropic mechanical properties of parts that are fabricated using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer relative to part-built orientation employing the fused deposition modelling process are reported in this work. ABSplus-P430 polymer was used to investigate the effects of infill orientation on the parts’ mechanical properties under tensile and compression loading. Results revealed that infill orientation strongly affected the tensile properties of fabricated ABS samples. Specifically, the values for Young’s modulus ranged from ~1.5 to ~2.1 GPa, ultimate tensile strength from ~12.0 to ~22.0 MPa, yield strength from ~1.0 to ~21.0 MPa, and elongation-at-break from ~0.2 to ~4.8% for different infill orientations. Samples with infill orientation aligned to the vertical (i.e. Z-) axis displayed the highest values relative to all other infill orientations investigated. Mechanical properties anisotropy was lower for parts under compressive loading, such that the Young’s modulus, ultimate compressive and yield strength were weakly correlated with infill orientation apart from samples whose built orientation was aligned at 45° to the vertical Z-axis. The latter samples displayed inferior mechanical properties under all compressive tests. The effects of sample gauge thickness on tensile properties and ABS sample micro- and bulk- hardness with respect to infill orientation are also discussed.