Impact Energy Consumption Capabilities of 3D Printed Specimens

Additive manufacturing which is developed in the last half century is promising manufacturing technology. It uses layer-wise production method for obtaining finished product. In recent years, thousand researches were made but there was still gaps about impact studies. In this study, the effect of fill pattern, filament material and layer thicknesses were investigated on the impact energy consumption capabilities of 3D printed samples via drop weight impact test. The specimens were produced using Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) Method with various fill patterns, different filament material types and different layer thicknesses. PLA/ PHA, CPE, ABS and PC materials were used for the samples. 0.2, 0.15, 0.1 mm layer thickness were examined for PLA/PHA material products. Concentric, Cubic, Cubic Subdivision, Linear, Triangle and Tetrahedral infill types are used. The effect of room temperature was also investigated during printing of samples. For this aim, the printing area was scanned by thermal camera. As a result of this work, it is concluded that linear fill pattern had a significant difference in energy consumption by comparing other fill patterns. Infill rate and energy consumption capabilities of specimens were directly proportional for linear and cubic subdivision infill type. It was observed that when thickness of layers is increased, the specimen strength was also increased.