Mechanical Property Evaluation of Additively Manufactured Materials across a Wide Temperature Range

Additive manufacturing (also called 3d printing) has transitioned from a prototyping-only technology to a technology that is able to create usable parts with complex geometries. 3D printed parts are beginning to be used across all areas of engineering, such as biomedical, aerospace, automobile and many more. Typically, the term “3D printing” refers to layer by layer deposition of polymer materials, while the term “additive manufacturing” refers to layer by layer metal deposition. Conventional manufacturing, or substrative manufacturing, has several main problems that additive manufacturing can help overcome, such as high cost for low volume production, inability to create very complex geometries, and wasted material. While some industries feel completely comfortable using additively manufactured parts for production purposes, others are still waiting for more information to be certain the parts will work for their applications. One of the missing pieces of information is how well parts function at temperatures other than room temperature. In this study, the mechanical properties of Polylactic acid (PLA), Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polyethylene terephthalate glycol (CFPET G), and GR-Cop – 42 (Cu-4 wt.% Cr, 2 wt.% Nb) will be experimentally tested at a variety of temperatures. The purpose of study it to test materials from low to high temperatures ranging from – 150°C to 600°C. PLA and ABS are tested from -150° C to room temperature for their applications as weather equipment’s at remote locations. CF PETG is tested at room temperature and GR-Cop -42 at 400°C and 600°C. Mechanical properties to be tested for are ABS, PLA, and CF – PETG are Tensile, Compression, Impact, Flex, and tensile and fatigue