Wednesday  |  Salon 10  |  09:20 AM–09:40 AM

#15740, Investigating the Effects of Acetone Vapor Treatment and Post Drying Conditions on Tensile and Fatigue behavior of 3D Printed ABS Components

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), an additive manufacturing/3D printing process, is widely used where the material is melted, extruded, and deposited in layers to build up the desired object. The applications of FDM technologies have significantly increased recently not only for rapid prototyping but also for mass production of finished products. In 3D printing, parts are usually built in discrete layers. Hence, this manufacturing process results in a certain amount of structural uncertainty in the form of discontinuities, voids, and poor inter-layer bonding. In our previous research, we successfully investigated the differences in the ultimate strength and fatigue life for 3D printed Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) components built by various build/layer orientations. Our previous research successfully highlighted the ultimate strengths and fatigue life, including SN Curves. However, there is a need for further research to improve the tensile strength and fatigue life of the 3D printed ABS components. This research explores effects of the surface treatment on the tensile strength and fatigue life of the 3D printed ABS components with various layup-orientation. In this study, Acetone Vaper Smoothing (AVS) method was used as the surface treatment of the 3D printed ABS components. Our research found that the AVS method could reduce stress concentrations on the surface and structural uncertainty of the 3D printed ABS components to improve the tensile and fatigue strength. However, these results were occurred after adjusting the Acetone vapor exposure and improving the drying methods because Acetone weakened the layer bonding of the ABS and reduced the tensile strength and fatigue life of the 3D printed ABS components. This research provides the optimal conditions of the Acetone Vapor exposure time and the drying time.

Heechang Bae   Eastern Washington University
Nicholas Blair   Eastern Washington University
Matthew Michaelis   Eastern Washington University
Awlad Hossain   Eastern Washington University