An Investigation on the Hardness of Polylactic Acid Parts Fabricated via Fused Deposition Modeling

Yu-Shan Zeng; Ming-Hsien Hsueh; Chao-Jung Lai; Te-Ching Hsiao; Chieh-Yu Pan; Wen-Chen Huang; Chih-Hao Chang; Shi-Hao Wang

doi:10.3390/polym14142789

An Investigation on the Hardness of Polylactic Acid Parts Fabricated via Fused Deposition Modeling

Polymers (Basel). 2022 Jul 8;14(14):2789. doi: 10.3390/polym14142789.

Authors

Yu-Shan Zeng¹, Ming-Hsien Hsueh², Chao-Jung Lai³, Te-Ching Hsiao¹, Chieh-Yu Pan⁴, Wen-Chen Huang⁵, Chih-Hao Chang⁶, Shi-Hao Wang²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 807618, Taiwan.
² Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 807618, Taiwan.
³ Department of Fashion Design and Management, Tainan University of Technology, Tainan 710302, Taiwan.
⁴ Department and Graduate Institute of Aquaculture, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 811213, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Information Management, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 824005, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Marketing and Distribution Management, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 824005, Taiwan.

Abstract

This paper investigated the hardness property of the fused deposition modeling (FDM)-printed PLA samples via different process parameters of printing and raster angles. The hardness data were sampled from the flat and edge surfaces of the samples. In addition, the effect of hardness characters after the ultraviolet (UV) curing process was analyzed. Furthermore, this research found that the printing and raster angles significantly affected the hardness value of the PLA part, which slightly increased after the UV irradiation. Moreover, the results of this study will provide a reference for the field of FDM application.

Keywords: 3D printing; PLA; UV curing; fused deposition modeling; hardness; printing angle; raster angle.

Grants and funding

This paper is supported by the National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology under MOST-110-2222-E-165-001.