Experimental Study of the Cooling Characteristics of Polymer Filaments in FDM and Impact on the Mesostructures and Properties of Prototypes

The bonding quality among polymer filaments in the fused deposition modeling (FDM) process determines the integrity and mechanical properties of the resultant prototypes. This research investigates the bond formation among extruded acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) filaments in the FDM process. Experimental measurements of the temperature profiles were carried out for different specimens and their effects on mesostructures and mechanical properties were observed. Models describing the formation of bonds among polymer filaments during the FDM process are discussed. Predictions of the degree of bonding achieved during the filament deposition process were made based on thermal analysis of extruded polymer filaments. The bond quality was assessed based on the growth of the neck formed between adjacent filaments and their failure under flexural loading. Further experimental work is underway to assess the validity of the proposed models.The financial support for this work was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through Research Grants awarded to Drs. Bellehumeur and Gu.Mechanical Engineerin