Experimental and numerical studies on the contributions of the different geometric and process parameters on 3D printed PLA pin joints
摘要
The primary objective of the present work was to evaluate the failure load of additive-manufactured polylactic acid (PLA) plates for pin joint applications. The analysis was done to study the effect of different parameters such as the distance between two holes, plate width, raster angles, infill patterns, and layer thickness on the failure load. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) process was utilized to fabricate the specimens. Taguchi methodology was used to determine the set of experiments for the different process parameters. Analysis of variance was used to find the contribution of each parameter. The study found that the width of the plate is the most significant factor, contributing approximately 58% to the tensile strength. The diameter to width ratio, set at 0.2 mm, had the highest impact on enhancing tensile strength, followed by the diameter to pitch ratio, which accounts for 20.27%, with the optimal pitch being 0.2 mm. The concentric pattern also notably influenced tensile strength, contributing 18.28%. In contrast, layer height had the least effect, contributing only about 1.5%. Experimental results were validated through numerical analysis using finite element methods and the characteristic curve method, in conjunction with the maximum principal stress failure theory, showing strong correlation with the experimental findings.