Enhancing printability and sustainability in three-dimensional-printing of challenging polymers by integrating an easy-to-print polymer raft

Abstract

Extrusion-based additive manufacturing has revolutionized the production of complex polymer parts by offering a wide range of customization options. However, warping is a persistent issue, especially with materials such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, which have unique solidification properties. This work presents a new method to reduce warping by using a base material with strong adhesion properties and optimizing two key variables, that is, raft weight and model weight. The experiments were carried out using an open-chamber Cartesian three-dimensional printer and designed based on the Taguchi design of experiments. Polylactic acid was selected as the base (raft) material for its strong adhesion to the build plate. The analysis of variance revealed that raft weight significantly impacts warping, contributing 83.80%, while model weight accounts for 14.82%. The regression model showed a high correlation between these factors and warping, with an “R²” value of 98.63%. This method enhances the printability of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene by improving the adhesion of the initial layers, leading to a significant reduction in warping. Additionally, energy consumption analysis revealed that this approach reduces energy consumption by 24.11% in comparison to traditional methods and minimizes material waste, promoting more sustainable additive manufacturing practices.