Microscopic analysis on dimensional capability of fused filament fabrication three-dimensional printing process

Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) has been the most widely used three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology due to its cost-effectiveness, easy application, and material readiness. FFF, to date, has been used to fabricate polymer components for rapid prototyping and increasingly for some end-user applications. Thus, there is a pressing need to optimize 3DP process parameters for FFF materials to achieve higher dimensional accuracy, especially in functional components for final use applications. Therefore, to ensure desired geometries with reasonable accuracy, precise measurements are required to validate the FFF process’s dimensional capability under different process conditions. This study presents the dimensional measurement and statistical analysis to evaluate the effect of printing materials, speed, and layer heights on dimensional accuracy and repeatability of the commercial FFF process. A benchmark part model was designed with different external and internal features commonly used in manufacturing processes. Taguchi’s design of experiments (DOE) was employed to obtain the experiments scheme, followed by the 3DP, dimensional measurement, and analysis of 3DP samples. Results revealed polylactic acid (PLA) material provided better dimensional control in most of the features. Higher printing speeds and layer heights were found optimum for external features/protrusions, whereas lower-to-medium speeds and layer heights were more appropriate for the fabrication of internal features.