Materials Informatics Approach to Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Processing-structure-property relationships in material extrusion additive manufacturing are complex, non-linear, and poorly understood. In this work, we designed an informatics workflow for the collection of high pedigree data from each stage of the fused filament fabrication (FFF) printing process. In conjunction with a design of experiments, we applied the workflow to investigate the influences of processing parameters on weld strength across three commercially available FFF printers. Environmental, material, and print conditions that may impact performance were monitored to ensure that relevant data was collected in a consistent manner. Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) filament was used to print ASTM D638-14 Type V tensile bars. Data was analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques, including principal component analysis. The magnitude of effect of extrusion temperature, layer thickness, print bed temperature, and print speed on the tensile properties of the final print were determined. The results demonstrated that printer selection is important and changes the impacts of print parameters.