Experimental classification and response surface modelling of compression property of 3D printed polylactic acid parts

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a process of building three dimensional (3D) solid objects from a computer model and STL files. Recent developments demand three-dimensional printed product with quality mechanical properties. In this work samples were printed with combination of properties to study the influencing process parameter of the 3D printer. Polylactic Acid (PLA) material with the MakerBot 3D printer used this study. The layer thickness, Infill density and number of shells are the properties studied. Finally, a Response Surface Model (RSM) for compressive load capacity of part is created. Result indicate that compression load carrying capacity of the parts increasing with increasing layer thickness, but, increasing number of shell and increasing layer thickness reducing load carrying capacity. This result concludes that minimum layer thickness and higher Infill density, a better load carrying capacity achieved