An Investigation of 3D Printing Parameters on Tensile Strength of PLA Using Response Surface Method

Additive manufacturing has many techniques and has been frequently used and studied recently. The fused deposition modeling (FDM) method, which is one of these techniques, is a widely used three-dimensional (3D) printing method that works with the extrusion principle. The parameters used during printing affect the properties of the final product. This study investigated the effect of print angle, infill density, and perimeter count parameters on the tensile strength characteristics of FDM-printed PLA samples by the response surface method (RSM), an experimental design method. The tensile strengths of the samples produced according to the test lists obtained using the Box-Behnken design were determined. A model equation showing the effect of the relevant parameters was created. From the experiments, the compatibility of the model equation with the experimental results has been demonstrated. The highest tensile strength values were achieved in cases where the print angle was 90 degrees, the infill density was 100%, and the number of walls was 5-6.