Effects of surface treatments on ABS mechanical properties from fused filament fabrication

Journal Article · Fri Sep 16 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Manufacturing Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mfglet.2022.07.091· OSTI ID:1923222

Shen, Jing-Jing ^[1]; Robert Patterson, Matthew ^[1]; Marshall, Erin ^[1]; Dvorak, Jake ^[1]; Romberg, Stian ^[1]; Schmitz, Tony ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

This paper examines the influence of surface treatments on the mechanical properties of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) samples printed by fused filament fabrication (FFF). Prior efforts have applied brushing, painting, solvent dipping, infiltration, and vapor smoothing as post-processing surface treatments to improve the mechanical properties of FFF components. Additionally, because FFF can produce components with undesirable surface roughness, mechanical abrasion, epoxy coating, and acetone treatment may increase tensile strength by decreasing stress concentrations. Ridged surface texture may provide desirable tribological or handling properties. Based on these opportunities, this paper investigates abrasive media blasting, epoxy coating, acetone immersion, and ridged texturing surface treatments on the tensile strength and other mechanical properties of FFF ABS samples. ASTM D638-14 Type-I samples were printed, treated on all sample sides, and tested. From tensile tests, the elastic modulus, tensile strength, and fracture strain for both the untreated and treated ABS samples were calculated. For each sample, the surface finish and fracture macromorphology were observed with optical microscopy and the roughness values for the surface finish were calculated from profilometer data. Furthermore, samples were submerged in water and weighed periodically to measure mass changes due to water absorption. From surface profilometry and optical miscopy data, mechanical media blasting, epoxy coating, and immersion in all concentrations of acetone decreased surface roughness. Overall, on average, grit blasting with large beads and epoxy coating led to 2.6% and 1.2% increases in tensile strength, respectively; immersion in 40% acetone led to a 1.9% increase in tensile strength while treatment in 60% and 80% acetone decreased tensile strength by 4.9% and 1.9%, respectively. The study concludes that only grit blasting with large beads, immersion in 60% acetone, and the ridged texture significantly affected the tensile strength.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Advanced Manufacturing Office
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1923222
• Journal Information: Manufacturing Letters, Journal Name: Manufacturing Letters Journal Issue: Supplement Vol. 33; ISSN 2213-8463
• Publisher: Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ABS
additive manufacturing
fused filament fabrication
material properties
surface treatment