Mechanical characterization and comparison of additive manufactured ABS, Polyflex™ and ABS/Polyflex™ blended functional prototypes
ISSN: 1355-2546
Article publication date: 28 January 2020
Issue publication date: 25 February 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Additive manufacturing (AM) is one of the latest and most advanced technologies that are continuously expanding into various field applications. Undoubtedly, fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the oldest and extensively used AM technologies not only because of the advantage of low cost, comparatively moderate production speed and negligible wastage but also due to acceptance of a wide range of thermoplastics, reinforced and blended feedstock for making the end product suitable for service. The purpose of this work to perform mechanical characterization of standard samples printed on FDM with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), shape memory polymer (SMP; make PolyflexTM) and ABS/PolyflexTM blend and a comparative study from AM view point.
Design/methodology/approach
A low-cost desktop-based FDM setup was used for the fabrication of the test specimens under different processing conditions. Experiments were conducted as per obtained control log, and statistical analysis was conducted to understand the effect of selected variables in response of measured properties. Further, scanning electron microscopy-based micrographs were analyzed to understand the fracture mechanisms.
Findings
The obtained results highlighted that the mechanical properties of FDM parts are strongly influenced by the selected process variables. However, in case of most of the measured properties, selection of suitable feedstock has dominated the other input variables. Further, the results of test parts made with in-house developed ABS/SMP blend have showed the attainment of remarkable values of both strength and elasticity.
Originality/value
This work is held to empower the use of FDM technology to fabricate advanced and robust components for serving highly demanding applications.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors want to acknowledge the financial support provided by Science and Engineering Research Board (DST, India) under ExtaMural Research Funding. Also, the authors are thankful to PhD Scholar, Harwinder Singh, of Textile Engineering Department (NITJ, India) for his assistance in performing and evaluating DMA test.
Conflict of Interest: There is no conflict of interest.
Citation
Singh, S. and Singh, R. (2020), "Mechanical characterization and comparison of additive manufactured ABS, Polyflex™ and ABS/Polyflex™ blended functional prototypes", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 225-237. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-11-2017-0234
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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