Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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A comparative study on the effect of infill density, shape structure, and

materials on tensile properties of FDM printed components
Shishir Nigam *, P.N. Ahirwar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Madhyanchal Professional University (MPU)- Educational Institute, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D-printing method makes it possible to create high-complexity geom­
3D printing etries quickly. The strength of the FDM printed components depends on various process factors, such as the infill
Infill density density, the infill shape structure, the material, and a great number of other variables. This work evaluates the
Infill structure
effect of infill structure and infill density on the tensile strength of different materials. PLA, ABS, and PETG
Deformation behavior
Mechanical strength
materials were considered during the work with different infill densities and structures. It compares the defor­
Materials mation behavior of different materials with the same infill structures and density. The experimental results show
that the tensile deformation of material depends on the infill structure and density. For PLA and ABS, triangular
infill structures show higher tensile strength at each infill density, whereas for ASA tri-hexagonal structure shows
higher strength. This work helps the researchers and academician to enhance their knowledge in the field of FDM
process.

1. Introduction strength components that meet rigorous safety and performance re­
quirements [12,13]. FDM printing is also used in the automotive in­
Fused Deposition Printing (FDM) is a widely used 3D printing tech­ dustry to create custom parts for prototyping, as well as low-volume
nology that creates three-dimensional objects by melting and extruding production of functional parts. In the medical device industry, FDM
thermoplastic filament layer by layer [1,2]. FDM printing is popular in printing is used to create patient-specific implants and prosthetics
various industries, including aerospace, automotive, and medical de­ quickly and cost-effectively [14]. In conclusion, FDM printing is a ver­
vices, due to its versatility, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness [3]. The satile and cost-effective technology that has broad applications in
need for FDM printing arises from the demand for quick prototyping and various industries [15]. The technology is in its mature phase, with
low-volume production [4]. The technology allows for the creation of significant advancements in the materials and technology used to pro­
functional prototypes and end-use parts quickly and cost-effectively duce parts. Recent work in FDM printing has focused on improving the
[5,6]. Additionally, FDM printers are affordable and easy to use, mak­ material properties of printed parts, as well as developing multi-material
ing them a popular choice for home users, hobbyists, and educational printing capabilities [15–17]. While several challenges remain, FDM
institutions. FDM printing is in its mature phase, with many advance­ printing is likely to continue to be a popular choice for rapid prototyping
ments in technology and materials [7–9]. One of the significant chal­ and low-volume production for many years to come.
lenges with FDM printing has been improving the mechanical properties One of the main limitations of FDM printed parts is their mechanical
of printed parts. However, recent advancements in technology and properties, particularly their tensile strength [18]. The need to improve
materials have resulted in significant improvements in the strength, the tensile properties of FDM printed parts has become increasingly
durability, and heat resistance of printed parts. With the right materials important due to their growing use in functional applications such as
and parameters, FDM-printed parts can now match the mechanical aerospace, automotive, and medical devices, where parts need to
properties of traditionally manufactured parts, making FDM an excellent withstand stress and load. The requirement for FDM-printed parts with
option for end-use parts as well [10,11]. improved tensile properties has led to the development of new materials,
FDM printing has broad applications in various industries. In the structure and techniques. To improve the tensile properties of FDM
aerospace industry, FDM printing is used to create lightweight, high- printed parts, vary the printing parameters such as layer thickness,

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Nigam).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2023.10.101
Received 25 May 2023; Received in revised form 1 October 2023; Accepted 16 October 2023
2214-7853/Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 4th International
Conference on Materials, Manufacturing and Modelling.

Please cite this article as: Shishir Nigam, P.N. Ahirwar, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2023.10.101
S. Nigam and P.N. Ahirwar Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Table 1 2. Material and methodology

List of abbreviations.
PLA Polylactic acid ASA- Tri- With Tri-hexagonal The PLA, ABS, and ASA are a material that will be extruded utilizing
hex structure the hot ends of a 3D printer’s nozzle once the necessary geometry has
ABS Acrylonitrile butadiene PLA-Tri With Triangular been entered into the device. The diameter of all the materials employed
styrene structure in this study is 1.75 mm. The manufactured material specimens under­
ASA Acrylonitrile styrene ABS- Tri With Triangular went the tensile strength test following ASTM D638 [25]. As a result, the
acrylate structure ASTM D638 Type 1 was selected for this study, and the sample was
PLA-Con With concentric structure ASA- Tri With Triangular
structure
constructed using the standard’s required specifications. As indicated in
ABS-Con With concentric structure FDM Fused deposition Fig. 1, the gauge length, total length, and width are 57 mm, 165 mm, and
modelling 19 mm, respectively, while the thickness, and depth of the cross-section
ASA-Con With concentric structure are 13 mm and 3.2 mm, respectively.
PLA-Tri- With Tri-hexagonal
In order to print the dog bone structure through FDM, certain process
hex structure
ABS- Tri- With Tri-hexagonal parameters were considered during printing. The process parameters
hex structure that are considered during the FDM printing are mentioned in Table 2.
This work included a total of 27 set samples, which included three
materials (i.e. PLA, ABS, and ASA), three infill structures (tri-hexagonal,
nozzle size, and printing speed [19,20]. Further for making the light­ concentric, and triangular), and three infill density (i.e. 60, 80, and 100
weight components with high tensile strength different infill structural %).
geometries were considered to fill the inside cavity of the structure and
make it with different infill densities [21–23]. Pandizc et al. [22] per­
3. Sample preparation and testing
formed experimental research is to investigate the impact of varying
infill densities (ranging from 20 % to 100 %) on the tensile mechanical
PLA, ABS, and ASA were taken into consideration for FDM printing.
properties, specifically tensile strength and elastic modulus, of three
Three distinct infill shapes geometries i.e. tri-hexagonal, concentric, and
distinct 3D printed materials: PLA antibacterial nanocomposite, tough
triangular were consideration for each material (Fig. 2). The specimen
PLA, and ABS-X. Tanveer et al. [21] offer a succinct overview of additive
infill density was also varied in the range of 60, 80, and 10. The ASTM
manufacturing methods, with a particular emphasis on the Fused
D628-10 standard, which is the standard size for polymer tensile sample
Deposition Method (FDM) and its crucial process parameters, notably
considered during the tensile test of each polymer. Each sample was
infill pattern and infill density. It explore the practical applications of
subjected to uniaxial stress and stretched throughout the tensile test
rapid prototyping in functional and industrial contexts. It also explain
until the whole sample was broke apart.
mechanisms through which infill density and infill pattern impact the
At MCUBE, 3D Printing Pvt. Ltd., Bhopal, India, a 3D printing
mechanical properties of 3D printed objects. Alhazmi et al. [24] study
experiment was conducted on a printer (Model- Guider 300) with a J-hot
the variety of infill densities, including 20 %, 40 %, 60 %, 80 %, and 100
end type extruder. Fig. 2 shows the infill structures used for current FDM
%. Each infill density was combined with three different flat orienta­
printing. Whereas Fig. 3 shows the printing of the tensile specimen.
tions, specifically ±45◦ , 45◦ , and 0◦ . This diverse set of orientations
Fig. 4(a) shows the set of samples printed in each material with different
allowed to comprehensively assess the material’s directional properties
infill structures at 60 % infill density. Fig. 4(b) shows the uniaxial
under tensile loading conditions. The tensile strength of the printed
directional tensile testing of the FDM printed samples. The extruder
parts can be optimized by adjusting these parameters to achieve the
desired mechanical properties.
Table 2
In conclusion, the need to improve the tensile properties of FDM
Different process parameters that were considered during FDM
printed parts has driven the development of new techniques and
printing.
methods to make it lighter and stronger. So for further exploring and to
Parameters Value
study indepth the effect of infill structure and density thiw work was
carried out. This work is mainly focusing on the effect of different infill Filament Materials PLA, ABS, ASA
structures on the tensile strength of different materials as shown in Modelling process FDM
Layer height 0.1 mm
Table 1. The effect of different infill structures with different infill
Raster angle 0◦
densities on the tensile strength of PLA (Polylactic acid), ABS (Acrylo­ Nozzle diameter 0.25 mm
nitrile butadiene styrene), ASA (Acrylonitrile styrene acrylate) was Nozzle temperature 225◦ s
measured. It also analyzed the deformation behavior of different mate­ Printing speed 30 mm/s
Printing bed temperature 60◦
rials concerning infill structure and density.
Room temperature 25◦
Relative humidity 50 (%RH)

Fig. 1. Tensile specimen dimension considered during printing.

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S. Nigam and P.N. Ahirwar Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 2. Different infill structure designs considered for FDM printing tensile specimen (a) Tri-hexagonal, (b) concentric, and (c) triangular.

Fig. 3. FDM printing of the sample.

temperature for PLA material is 190 ◦ C. Whereas for ABS and ASA, the slope of deformation changes. After reaching the maximum tensile
extruder temperature is 210 and 230 ◦ C. The rest of the other parameters strength, the rate of deformation increases significantly as compared to
remained same. the rate of change in load.
This shows the permanent plastic deformation of the FDM printed
4. Result and discussion specimens. Fig. 5(b) shows the tensile load–deflection graph of the
concentric infill structure having 80 % infill density. From the graph, it
4.1. For concentric infill structure is found that at 80 % infill density the tensile strength of ABS is highera
as compared to PLA and ASA material. Whereas with 100 % infill density
The tensile strength of the FDM printed samples with concentric infill also ABS material shows higher tensile strength. This means that with a
structures with different infill densities and materials is shown in Fig. 5. concentric infill structure, ABS material shows a higher tensile strength
For 60 % infill density the strength of the PLA reaches 0.38 kN, whereas as compared to PLA and ASA materials.
for 80 and 100 % infill density it is about 0.46 and 0.35 kN. Slope load

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Fig. 4. (a) Tensile specimen of FDM printed different material samples with triangular infill structure at different infill density, (b) tensile testing of ABS sample.

Fig. 5. Load-deflection graph of concentric infill structure with different densities and material.

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S. Nigam and P.N. Ahirwar Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 6. Load-deflection graph of Tri-hexagonal infill structure with different densities and material.

4.2. For a tri-hexagonal infill structure is more as compared to tri-hexagonal infill shape.

The load–deflection graph of the tri-hexagonal infill structure is

shown in Fig. 6. From the figure, it is found that at 60 % infill density, 4.4. Comparison of different infill structures at different material
ASA material shows the maximum tensile load of 2.1 kN. Whereas PLA
and ABS have 2 and 1.9 kN at 60 % density. In the case of a tri-hexagonal The comparative graph of a maximum tensile load of FDM printed
infill structure, increases in infill density increase the tensile strength of different specimens with different configurations is shown in Fig. 8.
FDM printed specimens. From the figure, it is found that for triangular and tri-hexagonal infill
In each case of infill density with a tri-hexagonal infill structure, ASA structures, the maximum tensile load increases with an increase in the
shows the maximum tensile load which is subsequently followed by PLA specimen density for all the materials. But in the case of concentric infill
and ABS. For 100 % infill density the tensile load-carrying capacity of structure the maximum tensile load increases from 60 to 80 % infill
ASA material reaches up to 2.95 kN, significantly higher than the 60 % density and beyond that it starts decreasing. For PLA and ABS triangular
infill density. This shows that infill density and structure directly affect infill geometry shows the maximum load capacity as compared to tri-
the properties of FDM-printed components. With ASA material, the tri- hexagonal and concentric infill geometry at constant infill density. For
hexagonal infill structure shows better performance as compared to ASA material tri-hexagonal infill geometry shows the maximum load
PLA and ABS material. capacity as compared to others.

4.3. For a triangular infill structure 5. Conclusion

Another infill structure that is considered during the current work is Tensile specimen of different materials with different infill structures
the triangular infill shape. The load–deflection graph of the triangular and density was successfully printed through the FDM method. With the
infill structure is shown in Fig. 7. With a triangular infill structure, PLA change in density and infill structure the tensile strength and deforma­
material shows the higher tensile strength at each infill density which is tion behavior of the materials gets also changed. From experimental
then followed by ABS and ASA. For 60 % infill density, PLA shows a 2.13 results, it is found that for PLA and ABS material triangular infill shapes
kN tensile load. Whereas with 80 and 100 % infill density, the tensile show a higher load-bearing capacity as compared to other infill shape
load is 2.25 and 2.6 kN. For ABS material the tensile load at 60, 80, and geometries. Whereas for ASA, tri-hexagonal shows the maximum load
100 % is 2.1, 2.3, and 2.95 kN respectively. Through the graph, it is also capacity. The strength of the specimens increases with an increase in
clearly seen that for triangular infill shape, the plastic deformation zone density.

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S. Nigam and P.N. Ahirwar Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 7. Load-deflection graph of Triangular infill structure with different densities and material.

Fig. 8. Comparison of maximum tensile load carrying capacity of different materials at different infill geometries.

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S. Nigam and P.N. Ahirwar Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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