Influence of 3D printing technological parameter number of shells on selected mechanical properties in FDM/FFF technology

Abstract The technological parameters of 3D printing have a significant impact on the mechanical properties including rheological properties of models produced by additive technology. Research on the influence of these parameters is important for designers who design machine components. Therefore, this article presents extensive research on the influence of the 3D printing technological parameter of the number of shells (2 and 10) on selected mechanical properties. Two different types of specimens produced by FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) technology were used from PLA material. The selected mechanical properties were tensile strength, flexural strength and creep phenomenon. The five-parameter Kelvin-Voight model was used to describe the creep curve obtained from the tests. Very good fits were obtained, which allows us to recommend the obtained results for engineering calculations. The research results presented in this article showed that for both tensile strength, flexural strength and creep phenomenon, higher values were obtained for the number of shells 10 compared to the number of shells 2.