Investigating the Effect of Process Parameters on the Tensile Strength of PLA Parts Produced by FDM Method Using the Response Surface Method

Today, additive manufacturing methods have found wide applications in various industries due to their many advantages, including not needing tools and molds, as well as short production time. Among these methods, the FDM process is widely used due to its cheapness and ease of production. As a result, it is very important to discover the relationship between the mechanical properties of the product produced in this way and the parameters used in the process. In this research, the effects of layer lamination angle, infill extrusion width and layer thickness on the normal force and tensile strength of PLA printed samples are examined. In order to investigate the effects of the parameters, the design of experiment, using surface response and Box-Benken method was used with the help of Minitab software. The results of the tests show that the maximum tensile strength and normal tensile force of the printed samples were equal to 38.36 MPa and 1.50 kN, respectively, which is at zero-degree lamination angle, infill extrusion width of 150% and the thickness of the layer 0.3 mm.