Optimization of the Heat Transfer Simulation Time During 3D Printing of PLA Material

This work focused on optimizing the simulation time for heat transfer during the Fused Deposition Modeling process, which is necessary for a recent tensile property optimization study mentioned in the literature. The approach for optimizing the simulation time involved conducting a comparative analysis of various mesh sizes and simulation step times, assessing their influence on the resulting temperature profiles. The heat transfer simulation of the printed material was done with COMSOL Multiphysics FEA and the normal and extremely fine meshes as well as the simulation step times of \(\Delta t\) = 0.01 and 0.05 s were considered. The results showed that all the combinations resulting from these simulation parameters were equivalent in terms of both temperature profile results and the results of the tensile property optimization study, but that the simulation time was minimized by using the normal mesh with Δt = 0.05 s with a simulation time ten times shorter than in the case of the extremely fine mesh with \(\Delta t\) = 0.01 s.