Effect of Building Orientation and Raster Angle on Mechanical Properties of Selected Materials Used in FFF Techniques

Growth in the development of additive manufacturing materials (AM) and the low availability of studies on the impact response of AM specimens is the main reason for this paper. Therefore, the influence of the building orientation (vertical and horizontal) and the angle of the raster (15°/-75°, 30°/-60°, 45°/-45°, and 0°/90°) on the tensile and impact strength of the AM specimens was investigated. The PLA PolyMax, Mediflex and ABS filaments were chosen to provide comprehensive characterization for AM materials with versatile mechanical properties. The experimental results of this study show that the tensile strength and toughness of PolyMax PLA specimens are comparable to ABS specimens while Mediflex samples are characterized with higher toughness but lower impact force needed to break the samples. The Mediflex Charpy fracture surfaces exhibit ductile character compared to those of brittle ABS and PLA. Furthermore, fracture surface morphology shows the allocation of voids which helps to understand differences in mechanical properties and allows one to properly interpret the results of geometrical accuracy of AM specimens with various printing settings.