Predicting Properties of Fused Filament Fabrication Parts through Sensors and Machine Learning

Fused filament fabrication (FFF), colloquially known as 3D-printing, has gradually expanded from the laboratory to the industrial and household realms due to its suitability for producing highly customized products with complex geometries. However, it is difficult to evaluate the mechanical performance of samples produced by this method of additive manufacturing (AM) due to the high number of combinations of printing parameters, which have been shown to significantly impact the final structural integrity of the part. This implies that using experimental data attained through destructive testing is not always viable. In this study, predictive models based on the rapid prediction of the required extrusion force and mechanical properties of printed parts are proposed, selecting a subset of the most representative printing parameters during the printing process as the domain of interest. Data obtained from the in-line sensor-equipped 3D printers were used to train several different predictive models. By comparing the coefficient of determination (R2) of the response surface method (RSM) and five different machine learning models, it is found that the support vector regressor (SVR) has the best performance in this data volume case. Ultimately, the ML resources developed in this work can potentially support the application of AM technology in the assessment of part structural integrity through simulation and can also be integrated into a control loop that can pause or even correct a failing print if the expected filament force-speed pairing is trailing outside a tolerance zone stemming from ML predictions.