Investigating the Surface Characteristic of 3D Printed Parts Using Different Printing Process Parameters

The limitation of fused filament fabrication 3D printers is the surface roughness of the printed part is excessively rough due to the layer-by-layer deposition method. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of printing process parameters which are types of pattern and level of speed toward the surface roughness of pineapple leave reinforced polylactic acid (PALF/PLA) composite. Line and triangle patterns, as well as 50 speed and 100 speed in millimeter per second (mm/s) are used to compared the surface roughness of the composite that measured using a non-contact profilometer. Statistical analysis reveals there are significant difference in surface roughness between speed 50 mm/s and speed 100 mm/s with a p-value is less than α = 0.05. However, types of pattern have no significant difference on surface roughness with a p-value of 0.848. The finding can help the design engineer carefully identify the best printing process parameters to optimize the cost and time in 3D printing applications.