Studies on Rapid Prototyping Pattern using PLA Material and FDM Technique

The development of Rapid Prototyping (RP) gave the consumer the ability to form prototype or a component of the prototype that can be directly used in assemblies and product testing for short or medium production with the least time consumed. The purpose of this paper is to study the dimensional accuracy and surface roughness for RP part as a master pattern for Investment Casting (IC) process. The material that been used is Polylactic acid (PLA) using a technique of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). The effects of internal pattern structure and part orientation during fabrication on the part master pattern can analyze from the response analysis. Results shows that PLA/FDM produced better accuracy and surface roughness when the part is fabricated with internal pattern structure compare to hollow structure. The internal pattern structures improved the quality of part and capable to supporting the design so that less warping or shrink. Part that built with 90 degrees part orientation produced better accuracy and surface roughness compare to 0 degrees part orientation.