The influence of printing parameters on the mechanical properties of 3D printed TPU-based elastomers

Additive Manufacturing (AM) becomes more and more focus of studies in the scientific community. Nevertheless, elastomers in 3D printing are still a relatively understudied topic despite their extensive use in machine components. The further understanding of the technologies and knowledge acquirement are fundamental steps towards the improvement of the printing process and the broadening of feasible applications of 3D printed elastomers. This work focused on thermoplastic polyurethanes printed with Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) and investigated the effect of infill deposition angle and contour lines on the tensile and the stress relaxation behaviour. Samples were printed in alternating as well as unidirectional infill orientations, the latter without and with outlines. Tensile tests revealed that alternating orientations of 0 degrees-90 degrees and 45 degrees-135 degrees have a similar behaviour and benefit the integrity of the part. The fully unidirectional orientation at 90 degrees hindered the tensile strength due to the absence of outlines and consequent delamination. All comparative analyses displayed a low influence of the raster angle at lower strains. Stress relaxation results showed similar behaviour for samples with outlines, without a clear effect of the infill orientations. In summary, contour lines are essential and an alternating orientation is recommended for better part integrity.