The aim of the thesis is to establish how the conditions of 3D (three-dimensional) printing affect the properties of a printed object. The thesis defines 3D printing, and presents its origins and development, it includes a depiction of the components of a 3D printer, an explanation of the process of 3D printing and subsequent processing of a printed object. The author explains the advantages and disadvantages of the material extrusion technology, FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling), and focuses on PLA (Polylatic Acid) filaments, defining some of its properties and advantages of use in 3D printing.
The thesis also includes definitions of two important factors for the research, printing direction and layer height, as well a depiction of how fill density affects the printed objects. Some previous researches were studied to describe the mechanical properties of polymeric materials. The main focus of the thesis is dedicated to the most important factor for its research, the tensile strength test, as well as the meaning of some connected terms. The empirical part of the thesis includes the description of the process of 3D printing and the considered conditions, as well as the record of the process of printing the trial subjects. Tensile properties, such as tensile force, breaking stress, breaking strain and energy at breaking, and elasticity modulus were defined. The results of the measurements are presented in the form of tables and graphs showing the course of deformation of the trial subjects affected by the increasing tensile strength. The author performed an analysis of the effects the direction of printing, layer height and printing temperature have on the properties of trial subjects. The findings show that printing temperature, direction of printing and layer height all have a certain impact on the tensile properties of trial subjects. The highest tensile strength has been reached at a higher printing temperature in the direction of 60° at a medium layer height.
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