Feasibility study of vacuum technology integrated fused deposition modeling to reduce staircase effect

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is currently one of the most used AM technologies and has been around in various industries since its tremendous offering. Most semi-molten layered thermoplastic surface often uneven, which lead to rough and poor surface finish. The FDM process involves temperature gradient since the material extrude was in a semi-molten state. The thermal stresses present and affect the surface quality. This paper proposes an idea of using vacuum technology to reduce the “staircase effect” parts printed. The FDM machine remains in a rectangular acrylic chamber, an oil-flooded-vacuum pump connected will absorb the air inside the chamber until desire pressure while printing object. Mitutoyo SJ-301 portable surface roughness tester and optical microscope used to analyze the quality of surface finish. Result reveal with vacuum technology, improve 9% from normal print.Keywords: fused deposition modeling; simulation; vacuum technology; surface finis

Vacuum fused deposition modelling system to improve tensile strength of 3D printed parts

Functional parts require high a level of strength and the current Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) cannot be fully utilized as the end used parts. The poor mechanical strength is caused by the incomplete layer bonding during the printing process. In the printing process, the interlayer bonding is made too quick thus the layers are not fully fused together causing the reduced tensile strength. This paper presents a possible solution to this problem by incorporating vacuum technology in FDM system to improve tensile strength of 3D printed specimens. In this study, a desktop FDM machine was placed and operated inside a low pressure vacuum chamber. The results obtained show an improvement of 12.83 % of tensile strength compared to the standard specimen. This paper concludes that the low pressure environment is useful in reducing the heat loss due to convection of air, hence directly improves the specimen’s tensile strength.Keywords: additive manufacturing; fused deposition modelling; vacuum system; mechanical strength