Extrudate-Level Analysis of Thermoplastic Properties in Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing

Extrudate-Level Analysis of Thermoplastic Properties in Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Extrudate-Level Analysis of Thermoplastic Properties in Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing Maryam Shokrollahi, Olivier Lampron, Martine Dubé, Ilyass Tabiai This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8534906/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Polymer-based material extrusion additive manufacturing techniques, including Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) and Fused Granular Fabrication (FGF), are rapidly expanding across multiple industries. These processes build parts layer by layer by depositing thermoplastic extrudates through a heated nozzle. However, their wider adoption for high-performance applications remains limited due to challenges in predicting mechanical properties and the generally reduced performance of printed parts. These challenges are typically attributed to insufficient interlayer bonding and meso-scale effects related to extrudate geometry. However, the influence of process conditions on the intrinsic properties of the extrudates, which are the fundamental building units of printed parts, has received limited attention. In this study, polylactic acid (PLA) was extruded at different rates and examined at both extrudate and printed levels. Tensile testing showed that increasing the extrusion rate did not affect ultimate tensile strength or stiffness but caused substantial reduction in ductility and an ~ 85% and ~ 60% loss in toughness for extrudates and printed samples, respectively. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) revealed more uniform strain distribution and delayed failure in low-rate samples, whereas high-rate samples exhibited early strain localization. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and structured light profilometry demonstrated that higher extrusion rates increased crystallinity and surface roughness in both extrudate and printed samples. Notably, the effect on these properties is non-proportional, with substantial changes occurring only beyond a threshold. These results demonstrate that extrusion rate markedly influences extrudate properties, with direct consequences for printed part performance, highlighting that process optimization should account for extrudate-level behaviour in FFF and FGF. Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing Process Parameters Die Swell Strength Toughness Digital Image Correlation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8534906","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":572667153,"identity":"a2e4b79b-053e-4724-ac3a-87a8508b58f5","order_by":0,"name":"Maryam Shokrollahi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"École de Technologie Supérieure","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Maryam","middleName":"","lastName":"Shokrollahi","suffix":""},{"id":572667154,"identity":"f274ffdc-bda3-4cc0-b3e0-17ca9394e7c5","order_by":1,"name":"Olivier Lampron","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"École de Technologie 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Manufacturing","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Material Extrusion, Additive Manufacturing, Process Parameters, Die Swell, Strength, Toughness, Digital Image Correlation","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8534906/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8534906/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003ePolymer-based material extrusion additive manufacturing techniques, including Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) and Fused Granular Fabrication (FGF), are rapidly expanding across multiple industries. These processes build parts layer by layer by depositing thermoplastic extrudates through a heated nozzle. However, their wider adoption for high-performance applications remains limited due to challenges in predicting mechanical properties and the generally reduced performance of printed parts. These challenges are typically attributed to insufficient interlayer bonding and meso-scale effects related to extrudate geometry. However, the influence of process conditions on the intrinsic properties of the extrudates, which are the fundamental building units of printed parts, has received limited attention. In this study, polylactic acid (PLA) was extruded at different rates and examined at both extrudate and printed levels. Tensile testing showed that increasing the extrusion rate did not affect ultimate tensile strength or stiffness but caused substantial reduction in ductility and an ~ 85% and ~ 60% loss in toughness for extrudates and printed samples, respectively. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) revealed more uniform strain distribution and delayed failure in low-rate samples, whereas high-rate samples exhibited early strain localization. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and structured light profilometry demonstrated that higher extrusion rates increased crystallinity and surface roughness in both extrudate and printed samples. Notably, the effect on these properties is non-proportional, with substantial changes occurring only beyond a threshold. These results demonstrate that extrusion rate markedly influences extrudate properties, with direct consequences for printed part performance, highlighting that process optimization should account for extrudate-level behaviour in FFF and FGF.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Extrudate-Level Analysis of Thermoplastic Properties in Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-13 11:15:14","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8534906/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"680f489a-f13f-4071-90bf-60c5e0bfaa65","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 13th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-06T15:11:18+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-13 11:15:14","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8534906","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8534906","identity":"rs-8534906","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}