FDM process parameters influence over the mechanical properties of polymer specimens: A review

Effects of printing parameters of fused deposition modeling on mechanical properties, surface quality, and microstructure of PEEK

Three-dimensional printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a fabrication process whereby a 3D object is created layer-by-layer by depositing a feedstock material such as thermoplastic polymer. The 3D printing technology has been widely used for rapid prototyping and its interest as a fabrication method has grown significantly across many disciplines. The most common 3D printing technology is called the Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) which utilises thermoplastic filaments as a starting material, then extrudes the material in sequential layers above its melting temperature to create a 3D object. These filaments can be fabricated using the Hot-Melt Extrusion (HME) technology. The advantage of using HME to manufacture polymer filaments for FDM printing is that a homogenous solid dispersion of two or more pharmaceutical excipients i.e., polymers can be made and a thermostable drug can even be introduced in the filament composition, which is otherwise impractical with any other techniques. By introducing HME techniques for 3D printing filament development can improve the bioavailability and solubility of drugs as well as sustain the drug release for a prolonged period of time. The latter is of particular interest when medical implants are considered via 3D printing. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in implementing a continuous manufacturing method on pharmaceutical products development and manufacture, in order to ensure high quality and efficacy with less batch-to-batch variations of the pharmaceutical products. The HME and FDM technology can be combined into one integrated continuous processing platform. This article reviews the working principle of Hot Melt Extrusion and Fused Deposition Modelling, and how these two technologies can be combined for the use of advanced pharmaceutical applications.

https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/10/4/203/pdf

Advanced pharmaceutical applications of Hot-Melt Extrusion coupled with Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) 3D printing for personalised drug delivery

Effects of nozzle temperature and building orientation on mechanical properties and microstructure of PEEK and PEI printed by 3D-FDM

Compared to the common selective laser sintering (SLS) manufacturing method, fused deposition modeling (FDM) seems to be an economical and efficient three-dimensional (3D) printing method for high temperature polymer materials in medical applications. In this work, a customized FDM system was developed for polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) materials printing. The effects of printing speed, layer thickness, printing temperature and filling ratio on tensile properties were analyzed by the orthogonal test of four factors and three levels. Optimal tensile properties of the PEEK specimens were observed at a printing speed of 60 mm/s, layer thickness of 0.2 mm, temperature of 370 °C and filling ratio of 40%. Furthermore, the impact and bending tests were conducted under optimized conditions and the results demonstrated that the printed PEEK specimens have appropriate mechanical properties.

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/11/2/216/pdf

Mechanical Properties Optimization of Poly-Ether-Ether-Ketone via Fused Deposition Modeling

As a kind of semi crystalline thermoplastic engineering plastics, Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has excellent mechanical properties and chemical stability. Aiming at the high temperature properties of PEEK, test and analysis of PEEK fused 3D printing performance was carried out by the fused deposition modeling(FDM), the experimental research date has been obtained by the effect of temperature on the mechanical properties and forming precision, the sheet forming. The result shows that adjusting the hot bed temperature, ambient temperature and filling ratio, it can improve the bonding strength, and it ultimately can improve the mechanical properties and the printing precision of PEEK. Compared to the PLA material, the maximum tensile strength of PEEK reached up to around 77Mpa, which was much larger than the tensile strength of PLA, and has good forming properties in thin layer parts. The analysis of this paper provides an effective basis for the analysis of high temperature 3D material PPEK printing, and provides a new solution for the performance control of high temperature material 3D printing.

Ma Honglin

Papers

Experimental Analysis of High Temperature PEEK Materials on 3D Printing Test