EFFECT OF LAYER THICKNESS ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF 3D-PRINTED POLYCARBONATE POLYMER BY FDM
Musa Yılmaz Necip Fazıl Yılmaz Ali Kılıç Ömer Eyercioğlu
AbstractFused deposition modelling (FDM) is rapidly growing 3D-printing technology due to its ability of building functional parts having diverse and complex geometries. However, printing materials are limited to polylactic acid (PLA) or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) in most FDM equipment. Here, information about polycarbonate (PC) material, which is a high-performance printing material to overcome these shortcomings, is provided. The mechanical properties of a built part depend on several process parameters like layer thickness, air gap, build orientations, raster angle, raster width, fill pattern and model building temperature. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of layer thickness on the mechanical performance of PC samples manufactured with 3D printer. Samples with three different layer thickness (178, 254 and 330 µm) were built using PC polymer material in the 3D- printing system and their tensile and hardness tests were carried out. Results show that the tensile strength (53.15 MPa) and hardness (57.9 HV) are highest in the samples with a layer thickness of 254 µm and 330 µm, respectively.