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Fatigue experimental analysis and modelling of fused filament fabricated PLA specimens with variable process parameters

Steffany N. Cerda-Avila (Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi, Mexico)
Hugo Iván Medellín-Castillo (Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi, Mexico)
José M. Cervántes-Uc (Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Mérida, Mexico)
Alejandro May-Pat (Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Mérida, Mexico)
Aarón Rivas-Menchi (CONACYT – Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán, Mérida, Mexico)

Rapid Prototyping Journal

ISSN: 1355-2546

Article publication date: 12 January 2023

Issue publication date: 2 June 2023

124

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is twofold: firstly, to investigate the effect of the infill value and build orientation on the fatigue behaviour of polylactic acid (PLA) specimens made by fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known as fused deposition modelling; and secondly, to model the fatigue behaviour of PLA specimens made by FFF and similar additive manufactured parts.

Design/methodology/approach

A new methodology based on filament characterisation, infill measuring, axial fatigue testing and fatigue strength normalisation is proposed and implemented. Sixty fatigue FFF specimens made of PLA were fabricated and evaluated using variable infill percentage and build orientation. On the other hand, fatigue modelling is based on the normalised stress amplitude and the fatigue life in terms of number of cycles. In addition, a probabilistic model was developed to predict the fatigue strength and life of FFF components.

Findings

The infill percentage and build orientation have a great influence on the fatigue behaviour of FFF components. The larger the infill percentage, the greater the fatigue strength and life. Regarding the build orientation, the specimens in the up-right orientation showed a much smaller fatigue strength and life than the specimens in the flat and on-edge orientations. Regarding the fatigue behaviour modelling, the proposed Weibull model can predict with an acceptable reliability the stress-life performance of PLA-FFF components.

Research limitations/implications

This study has been limited to axial fatigue loading conditions along three different build orientations and only one type of material.

Practical implications

The results of this study are valuable to predict the fatigue behaviour of FFF parts that will work under variable loading conditions. The proposed model can help designers and manufacturer to reduce the need of experimental tests when designing and fabricating FFF components for fatigue conditions.

Originality/value

A fatigue study based on a novel experimental methodology that considers the variation of the FFF process parameters, the measurement of the real infill value and the normalisation of the results to be comparable with other studies is proposed. Furthermore, a new fatigue model able to predict the stress-life fatigue behaviour of PLA-FFF components considering variable process parameters is also proposed.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Funding: The authors would like to thank the financial support from the National Science and Technology Council (CONACYT) of Mexico, grant number CB-2010-01-154430. The first author also acknowledges CONACYT for the scholarship providing during her PhD studies.

Citation

Cerda-Avila, S.N., Medellín-Castillo, H.I., Cervántes-Uc, J.M., May-Pat, A. and Rivas-Menchi, A. (2023), "Fatigue experimental analysis and modelling of fused filament fabricated PLA specimens with variable process parameters", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 29 No. 6, pp. 1155-1165. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-10-2022-0354

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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