Fabrication of a low-cost fused filament fabrication-based 3D printer and investigation of the effects of process parameters on mechanical properties of 3D-printed samples

Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques add material layer-by-layer to fabricate parts or products, compared to subtractive manufacturing processes, where the material is removed to obtain the final product. The most common method among AM techniques is fused filament fabrication (FFF), which uses filament material to print objects into end products. The present study's aims include fabrication of a custom FFF-based 3D printer and investigating the effects of three process parameters on the tensile properties of the 3D-printed samples. Initially, the 3D printer was successfully fabricated. This 3D printer uses Marlin Firmware 2.0 as programming code to control different functionalities of the printing processes. After final construction and calibration, the printer 3D-printed a few samples successfully. Moreover, a design of experiments plan was formulated to print tensile specimens based on the levels of the process parameters. Tensile testing was performed, and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that the process parameters significantly affected the tensile properties. The effects of the process parameters were then analyzed, along with the defect formation and microstructure analysis. Finally, optimum parameters for printing PLA parts with better tensile properties were figured out for the constructed 3D printer.