Analyzing the effect of nozzle diameter in fused deposition modeling for extruding polylactic acid using open source 3D printing

TLDR: In this article, the effect of the size of the extrusion nozzle in terms of pressure drop, geometrical error as well as extrusion time was analyzed using finite element analysis (FEA).

Abstract: Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the Rapid Prototyping (RP) technologies. The 3D Printer has been widely used in the fabrication of 3D products. One of the main issues has been to obtain a high quality for the finished parts. The present study focuses on the effect of nozzle diameter in terms of pressure drop, geometrical error as well as extrusion time. While using polylactic acid (PLA) as a material, the research was conducted using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) by manipulating the nozzle diameter, and the pressure drop along the liquefier was observed. The geometrical error and printing time were also calculated by using different nozzle diameters. Analysis shows that the diameter of the nozzle significantly affects the pressure drop along the liquefier which influences the consistency of the road width thus affecting the quality of the product’s finish. The vital aspect is minimizing the pressure drop to be as low as possible, which will lead to a good quality final product. The results from the analysis demonstrate that a 0.2 mm nozzle diameter contributes the highest pressure drop, which is not within the optimum range. In this study, by considering several factors including pressure drop, geometrical error and printing time, a 0.3 mm nozzle diameter has been suggested as being in the optimum range for extruding PLA material using open-source 3D printing. The implication of this result is valuable for a better understanding of the melt flow behavior of the PLA material and for choosing the optimum nozzle diameter for 3D printing.

Full text

Analyzing the effect of nozzle diameter in fused deposition modeling for extruding
polylactic acid using open source 3D printing
ABSTRACT
Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the Rapid Prototyping (RP) technologies. The
3D Printer has been widely used in the fabrication of 3D products. One of the main issues has
been to obtain a high quality for the finished parts. The present study focuses on the effect of
nozzle diameter in terms of pressure drop, geometrical error as well as extrusion time. While
using polylactic acid (PLA) as a material, the research was conducted using Finite Element
Analysis (FEA) by manipulating the nozzle diameter, and the pressure drop along the
liquefier was observed. The geometrical error and printing time were also calculated by using
different nozzle diameters. Analysis shows that the diameter of the nozzle significantly
affects the pressure drop along the liquefier which influences the consistency of the road
width thus affecting the quality of the product’s finish. The vital aspect is minimizing the
pressure drop to be as low as possible, which will lead to a good quality final product. The
results from the analysis demonstrate that a 0.2 mm nozzle diameter contributes the highest
pressure drop, which is not within the optimum range. In this study, by considering several
factors including pressure drop, geometrical error and printing time, a 0.3 mm nozzle
diameter has been suggested as being in the optimum range for extruding PLA material using
open-source 3D printing. The implication of this result is valuable for a better understanding
of the melt flow behavior of the PLA material and for choosing the optimum nozzle diameter
for 3D printing.
Keyword: Nozzle diameter; Pressure drop; Fused deposition modeling; Open source 3D
printing

Frequently asked questions

Q1. What are the contributions in this paper?

The present study focuses on the effect of nozzle diameter in terms of pressure drop, geometrical error as well as extrusion time. In this study, by considering several factors including pressure drop, geometrical error and printing time, a 0. 3 mm nozzle diameter has been suggested as being in the optimum range for extruding PLA material using open-source 3D printing.