i

INVESTIGATION OF CHARACTERISTICS AND APPLICATIONS OF 3-D

PRINTER MATERIALS

MUHAMMAD SYAZWI BIN MOHD FAUDZE

UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

MU

HA

MM

AD

SYA

ZWI B

IN M

OH

D FA

UD

ZE BA

CH

. OF M

ECH

AN

ICA

L ENG

. (DESIG

N &

INN

OV

ATIO

N) 2015 U

TeM

INVESTIGATION OF CHARACTERISTICS AND APPLICATIONS OF 3-D

PRINTER MATERIALS

MUHAMMAD SYAZWI BIN MOHD

FAUDZE

This project report is submitted in partial

fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of

Bachelor (Hons.) Mechanical Engineering (Design and Innovation)

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

JUNE 2015

SUPERVISOR DECLARATION

“I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my opinion this thesis is

sufficient term of scope and quality for the award of the degree of Bachelor of

Mechanical Engineering (Design and Innovation)”

Signature: ……………………………………..

Supervisor: Dr. Faiz Redza Bin Ramli

Date: ……………………………………..

DECLARATION

“I hereby declare that the work in this thesis is my own except for summaries and

quotations which have been duly acknowledged.”

Signature: ……………………………………..

Author: Muhammad Syazwi Bin Mohd Faudze

Date: ……………………………………..

Specially dedicated to my beloved mother, Mrs. Norhayati Bte Abd.

Rahman and my supportive father, Mr. Mohd Faudze Bin Sabtu

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him and seek His aid and forgiveness. We seek

refuge in Allah from the evil which is within ourselves and from the evil in our actions.

Whoever Allah guides, none can send astray; whoever Allah sends astray, none can guide.

We bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah alone, and with no partner. And we

bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Faiz Redza bin Ramli,

for accepting me to do this project. Thanks for the guidance and support that he gives

during carrying out this project. Not to forget to Dr. Rizal Al- Kahari my Co-supervisor

for assisting me a lot during carrying this project.

I will never forget the financial, moral and spiritual support of my parent too. Asking

Allah to have mercy on them how they catered for me when I were toddlers. Lastly, there

might be people who have aided this project without our knowledge but Allah knows you.

To you all, nothing can be greater than Jazakumullahu Khayran. May Allah bless you all

and grant you the best of both worlds, Ameen.

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ABSTRACT

For the past decade, the rapid prototype market possesses a lot of changes and

growth. Low end machines were responsible for the majority of the rapid prototype market

growth in recent years. The purpose of the project explained in this report should be to

assess, match up and evaluate a few thing about the mechanical properties for the low cost

machines which are MendelMax and Kossel on the market today. A benchmarking

research was performed to determine the performance for each platform by evaluating its

capability to produce a complicated benchmark portion which is designed specifically for

this study such as up-stand features and slots. The design was created by CATIA software

which will be converted into STL file format. The results show clearly that the

performance of the 3-D printer is depending on a certain criteria which are layer thickness

and infill density in order to get a better profile.

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ABSTRAK

Selari dengan perubahan zaman, pasaran prototaip mempunyai banyak perubahan

dan pertumbuhan. Mesin berkos rendah ini bertanggungjawab sebagai pembangunan

prototaip yang bertumbuh pesat pada zaman serba moden ini. Projek ini yang diterangkan

di dalam laporan ini bertujuan mengakses, membanding antara satu sama lain dan

menganalisa beberapa perkara berdasarkan sifat bahan mekanikal mesin berkos rendah ini

seperti mesin MendelMax dan Kossel yang berada di pasaran dunia sekarang. Kajian

berdasarkan penanda aras geometri telah dilakukan untuk mengenal pasti kebolehan untuk

setiap geometri dengan menganalisa kebolehannya untuk menghasilkan bahagian penanda

aras yg rumit yang mana rekabentuk khusus untuk kertas kerja ini seperti profil-profil

yang teguh dan profil slot. Rekabentuk prototaip ini dihasilkan melalui perisian CATIA

yang seterusnya akan dijadikan format STL. Keputusan menunjukkan secara jelas bahawa

jurang kebolehan mesin prototaip ini ditentukan dengan beberapa faktor seperti ketebalan

lapisan dan kepadatan kawasan jurang untuk menghasilkan bentuk profil yang baik.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TOPIC PAGE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

ABSTRACT ii

ABSTRAK iii

LIST OF FIGURES vii

LIST OF TABLES x

LIST OF ABBREVIATION xi

1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background Study 1

1.2 Problem Statement 2

1.3 Objectives 3

1.4 Scopes 3

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2 LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Rapid Prototyping 4

2.2 Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) 5

2.3 Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) Material 6

2.4 Slicing Method 7

2.5 Review of Previous Benchmark Geometries 8

2.6 Low Cost 3-D Printer 13

2.7 Surface Roughness Measurement 13

2.8 Effects of Warpage on the Surface Accuracy 15

3 METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 Equipment and Apparatus 17

3.2 Project Flow 18

3.3 Preliminary Fabrication and Parameters

Involved in Printing Configuration 20

3.4 Design of the Benchmark Part 21

3.5 Setup Configuration 22

3.6 Fabrication of Benchmark Parts 23

3.7 Measurement and Surface Roughness on

Produced Part 25

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 26

4.1 Observational Views Findings 26

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4.2 Dimension Accuracy of Various Features 27

4.2.1 Study of Width and Height 30

4.2.2 Study of Uniformity for Cylinder 43

4.2.3 Study of Symmetry of Features 47

4.2.4 Study on Surface Roughness 51

5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 55

5.1 Conclusion 55

5.2 Recommendation 56

REFERENCES 57

APPENDICES 60

APPENDIX A 61

APPENDIX B 63

APPENDIX C 64

APPENDIX D 65

APPENDIX E 66

APPENDIX F 68

APPENDIX (Other) 69

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE TITLE PAGE

Fig. 2.1 The Compound Structure 6

Fig. 1.2 Benchmark part 9

Fig. 2.3 Waviness affect 14

Fig. 2.4 Surface characteristics 14

Fig. 2.5 Surface roughness graph 15

Fig. 2.6(a) Part warpage drifting towards the edges 15

Fig. 2.6(b) Part warpage drifting towards a side 15

Fig. 3.1 Flow chart for the whole PSM 19

Fig. 3.2 Preliminary test part 20

Fig. 3.3 Design of the test part 22

Fig. 3.4(a) Warpage at the edge 24

Fig. 3.4(b) ABS solvent used 24

Fig. 4.1 Warpage presented 27

Fig. 4.2(a) Kapton tape applied on bed 27

viii

Fig. 4.2(b) UHU glue stick on Kapton tape 27

Fig. 4.3 Gap between extruder and heat bed 28

Fig. 4.4 The machine is not printing uniformly as it moves in

incline manner 28

Fig. 4.5(a) The nozzle is detached from the printer unit 29

Fig. 4.5(b) The remaining filament stuck in the nozzle 29

Fig. 4.7(a) Slots 31

Fig. 4.7(b) Cylinders 31

Fig. 4.8 Bar Graph of Width of Slab (SL) for Mendel (ABS) 33

Fig. 4.9 Bar Graph of Height of Cylinder (CL) for Mendel (ABS) 33

Fig. 4.10 Bar Graph of Width of Slab (SL) for Mendel (PLA) 36

Fig. 4.11 Bar Graph of Height of Cylinder (CL) for Mendel (PLA) 36

Fig. 4.12 Lower infill density and larger contour width 37

Fig. 4.13 Bar Graph of Width of Slab (SL) for Kossel (ABS) 39

Fig. 4.14 Bar Graph of Height of Cylinder (CL) for Kossel (ABS) 39

Fig. 4.15 Bar Graph of Width of Slab (SL) for Kossel (PLA) 42

Fig. 4.16 Bar Graph of Height of Cylinder (CL) for Kossel (PLA) 42

Fig. 4.17 Three regions of determining the cylindricity of a cylinder 43

Fig. 4.18 Bar Graph of Uniformity of Feature for Mendel (ABS) 44

Fig. 4.19 Bar Graph of Uniformity of Feature for Mendel (PLA) 45

Fig. 4.20 Bar Graph of Uniformity of Feature for Kossel (ABS) 46

Fig. 4.21 Bar Graph of Uniformity of Feature for Kossel (PLA) 47

Fig. 4.22 Two portions area of symmetry test 48

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Fig. 4.23 Bar Graph of Symmetry of Features for Mendel (ABS) 48

Fig. 4.24 Bar Graph of Symmetry of Features for Mendel (PLA) 49

Fig. 4.25 Bar Graph of Symmetry of Features for Kossel (ABS) 50

Fig. 4.26 Bar Graph of Symmetry of Features for Kossel (PLA) 50

Fig. 4.27 Bar Graph of Roughness Test for Mendel (ABS) 51

Fig. 4.28 Bar Graph of Roughness Test for Mendel (PLA) 52

Fig. 4.29 Bar Graph of Roughness Test for Kossel (ABS) 53

Fig. 4.30 Bar Graph of Roughness Test for Kossel (PLA) 54

Fig. 4.31(a) Surface profile of vertical surface 54

Fig. 4.31(b) Horizontal surface 54

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LIST OF TABLE

TABLE TITLE PAGE

Table 2.1 Summing up of documented benchmark parts 8

Table 2.2 A summary of proposed geometric features and purpose 12

Table 3.1 Parameters that will be used 21

Table 3.2 Various geometrical features 22

Table 4.1 Deviations of different features in different test sets 32

Table 4.2 Deviations of different features in different test sets 35

Table 4.3 Deviations of different features in different test sets 38

Table 4.4 Deviations of different features in different test sets 41

Table 4.5 Roundness for every test parts 44

Table 4.6 Roundness for all test parts 46

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LIST OF ABBREVIATION

PSM Projek Sarjana Muda

FYP Final Year Project

RP Rapid Prototyping

CAD Computer Aided Drawing

FDM Fused Deposition Modelling

SL Stereolithography

SLS Selective Laser Sintering

3DP Three Dimensional Printing

ABS Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene

PLA Polylactic Acid

CMM Coordinate Measuring Machine

STL Standard Triangular Language

CAM Computer Aided Manufacturing

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Projek Sarjana Muda (PSM) or Final Year Project (FYP) is a compulsory subject

that must be taken by a soon-to-be graduated student of Universiti Teknikal Malaysia

Melaka during the final year as one of the requirement to be awarded of Bachelor degree.

All students should have a project that need to be carried out during the two semesters of

studies under the supervision of a selected lecturer. At the end of the semester, students

are required to demonstrate their finding according to the project. This chapter will

provide the project background which entitled of Investigation of Characteristics and

Applications of 3-D Printer Materials.

1.1 BACKGROUND STUDY

Rapid Prototyping (RP) is a somewhat most recent manufacturing engineering in

which the prototypes are straight made from CAD drawings. RP benchmarking is essential

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for reviewing the strengths and imperfections of RP technologies. By making use of

benchmarking, the ability of a certain approach could be checked, measured, analysed, as

well as confirmed through a standardized procedure. A handful of benchmark research

appear to have been successfully done to figure out the quality of dimensional accuracy

and surface quality achievable with existing RP processes. Hence, a variety of test parts

have already been built for the benchmark research.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

FDM process is still in early phase of commercialization and thus, it have the

potential for further research and studies. Apparently, there is no further studies on

investigation of mechanical properties for low cost 3D Printer in intention to differentiate

the quality of finishing product of various geometric features based on standard

benchmarking models produced. Therefore, it is vital to revamp a further studies on a

benchmark geometry in order to enhance the technical proficiency such as the accuracy

and repeatability of FDM operation and the comparison of the geometries.

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1.3 OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the project are:

1. To investigate the vital parameters required for 3D printer by the quality of

finishing product for low cost 3-D printers.

2. To differentiate the quality of finishing product of various geometric features

based on standard benchmarking models produced from low cost 3-D printers.

3. To investigate the condition of produced part in terms of geometric dimensional

accuracy, capacity to fabricate specific geometry, repeatability, and surface

roughness.

1.4 SCOPES

1. Design a standard test part based on standard benchmarking models.

2. Investigate the finishing quality of produced part.

3. Varying different plastic material which are ABS and PLA.

4. Varying different low cost 3-D printers which are MendelMax and mini Kossel.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, a thorough review will be made based on the previous research

regarding on the investigation of characteristics of the 3-D printer material. This chapter

will facilitate the readers to understand the Rapid Prototyping (RP) technologies and on

how the geometric benchmark proposed will effect to the performance evaluation of rapid

prototyping processes.

2.1 RAPID PROTOTYPING

RP is a common concept for several modern technology that allow materials to be

produced without requiring any traditional tooling. A lot of manufacturing processes are

subtractive, for the reason which they customize the geometry of plenty materials by

eliminating components of the material until the final appearance is attained. Traditional

milling as well as turning are pretty decent examples of subtractive techniques. By

comparison, RP approaches are additive techniques. RP components are built-up

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eventually in layers until the final geometry is acquired. The manner wherein the layers

are manufactured, in spite of this, as well as the materials by which parts could be created

significantly between the distinct RP processes (Fletcher, 2003).

A variety of RP techniques have already been engineered and are commercially on the

market which includes Stereolithography (SL), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Fused

Deposition Modeling (FDM) and Three Dimensional Printing (3DP). Each and every RP

approach produces parts in a variety of materials and through the use of various operating

process such as photopolymerisation by SL, sintering by SLS, extrusion by FDM and

jetting by 3DP (Hopkinson et al., 2012).

2.2 FUSED DEPOSITION MODELLING (FDM)

FDM is regarded as the RP modern technology which utilizes an additive

manufacure concept. Every single commercially attainable FDM model carries unique

variations of process criteria for a variety of applications. A few of the wanted parts need

to have remarkable surface finish together with good tolerance. The most popular criteria

needing installation are the raster angle, tool path, slice thickness, build orientation, and

deposition speed (Rizal et al., 2010).

FDM is also an RP method wherein a plastic is extruded via a nozzle that can trace the

part's cross sectional geometry layer by layer. The FDM device usually requires two

materials which are build material and support material. During this method, an automated

robot is monitored the extruder head motions in two basic principle orientations over a

table. The table could be lifted or dropped whenever you like. Extruder head keeps with a

direction which is operated by the software and creates a thin layer of build or support

material. After first layer the table is dropped and following layers are produced. Every

single brand new layer creates seal with the previous layer. The support material is

accustomed to develop the support structures which are instantaneously created for

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overhanging geometries and are afterwards taken away by splitting them away

(Marcincinova, 2012).

2.3 ACRYLONITRILE BUTADIENE STYRENE (ABS) MATERIAL

According to Stratasys (2011) ABS is the most frequently used thermoplastics, has

recently become the strong foundation for FDM for quite some time. Assessed by yearly

usage, it is really the most in-demand material in FDM equipments as it is so broadly

applied. The ABS materials are an outstanding selection for models or prototypes in which

the thermoplastics for FDM machines will give better tensile and impact strength.

ABS resins are thermoplastic resins made up of about three types of monomers which are

firstly acrylonitrile, secondly butadiene, and the third one is styrene. The combination of

those element as shown in Fig. 2.1 made as resins with the balance of hardness as well as

softness by enhancing the brittleness, which can be the glaring issue polystyrenes, with

inclusion of a rubber component while keeping hardness as well as fluidity, which have

been the benefits of polystyrenes (Margolis, 2005)

Fig. 2.1 The Compound Structure of ABS

(Source: Margolis, 2005)

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2.4 SLICING METHOD

To summarize, a thinner slice layer generates perfect surface texture however it is

going to boost up the creation of the model period. A lot of analysts have discovered that

the layer thickness considerably affects the surface finish.

In accordance to Azanizawati (2003) better surface finish has been produced with low

layer thickness. Ahn et al. (2009) revealed that layer thickness is regarded as the most

convincing parameter for the surface texture of layer production. The publisher explained

that the rates of surface roughness rely on various angles of the printing parts.

Anitha et al. (2001) practiced Taguchi approach to figure out the consequence of layer

thickness, road width as well as deposition speed each at three levels on the surface

roughness of part developed by using FDM method. The results show that layer thickness

is regarded as the most convincing process parameter causing surface roughness along

with road width as well as deposition speed.

Khan et al. (2006) discovered the impact of slice layer and also the support structures

thickness on the surface roughness of product produced by FDM approach. Measurement

of roughness was carried out on the either side of the specimen in perpendicular to the

path of build up layer. The publishers claimed that lower positioning of slice thickness

provides greater surface quality. Furthermore the part surface that is next to the top layer

of the support provides smoother composition when compared with the other surfaces.

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2.5 REVIEW OF PREVIOUS BENCHMARK GEOMETRIES

A geometric benchmark part is a produced and constructed for the productivity

evaluation of rapid prototyping processes. The benchmark part integrates important

shapes and top features of well-known benchmark parts. This also comprises brand new

geometric features, for instance freeform parts, particular mechanical features which are

rapidly required on of RP processes. The part is appropriate for manufacturing on an

average RP machines. In this paper, the application of the benchmark part is exhibited by

making use of slightly typical RP processes. The capability of the benchmark part to

discover possible geometric features and accuracy. In this session, the related benchmark

parts will be briefly discussed.

Table 2.1 Summing up of documented benchmark parts

Properties Kruth (1991) Lart (1992) Gargiulo

, 3D

systems

(1992)

Ippolito

(1994)

Juster and Childs

(1994)

Mike

Shellabear

(1999)

Size Small Medium Large Large Large Small

Dimensions 100 x 50 mm - 240 x

240 mm

240 x 240

mm

250 x 250 mm 71 x 75 mm

Features

incorporated

Simple:

cylindrical

shell, inclined

cylinders,

pegs and

overhangs

Complex:

rich in fine-

and medium

sized

features

Simple:

features

are

planar

Simple:

Used the

3d systems

benchmark

part

Comprehensive:

Features to test

linear accuracy

and feature

repeatability

Simple:

Planar

surfaces,

which include

various angles

Complexity of

measurement

Simple: but

not

standardized

Difficult:

Features not

accessible to

CMM

Simple Simple Simple Easy but not

standardised

(Source: Wong et al., 2004)