A non-destructive experimental-cum-numerical methodology for the characterization of 3D-printed materials — polycarbonate-acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PC-ABS)

Abstract

With increasing prevalence of the use of 3D-printing, the structural integrity of these 3D-printed parts becomes a concern, especially if bulk properties are assumed in the design phase since 3D-printing usually results in material properties inferior to that of bulk properties. In this paper, we present an experimental-cum-numerical methodology for the characterization of 3D-printed polycarbonate-acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PC-ABS). This paper investigates the effects of raster angle and orientations on the elastic properties of the Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) printed PC-ABS material. The orthotropic elastic properties of PC-ABS material were determined by conducting ultrasonic testing, which is a non-destructive test method that allows us to deduce all the anisotropic elastic constants from the bulk density and the velocities of shear and longitudinal ultrasound wave propagating along different directions. Several tensile tests were also carried out to validate the ultrasonic tests, and these were generally in good agreement, with an average of 11% deviations. Next numerical verification was by comparing numerical finite element simulation results (using properties from ultrasonic testing) with experimental four-point bending test and impact hammer test, where excellent correspondence between the experimental and numerical data was observed. Further, scanning electron microscopes were utilized to analyze the fracture surface to understand the effects of the raster angles and orientations on the fracture behavior and the microstructure of the FDM printed PC-ABS.