This study aims to compare the accuracy offered by 3D Slicer Software in printing end-use parts inside a Fused Deposition Modeling process of Additive Manufacturing. The purpose, in particular, is to investigate the surface quality and the dimensional stability of the manufactured parts comparing the effect of selecting a different 3D Slicer tool among Simplify3D, Cura and Slic3r 3D. With this scope, parts were produced using these process tools while results were analysed in terms of accuracy, production time and consumption of material. Results, graphically and visually presented, show significant differences in the dimensional and surface accuracy with an optimum outcome offered by the Simplify3D as best 3D slicer tool. The Simplify3D slicer has essential advantages in printed end-use parts because creates the 3D models with significantly better accuracy and quality support.
A growing concern over environmental issues and the common interest to find a viable alternative to the use of glass or carbon composite reinforcements has led to an increased attention in ecologically sustainable polymer composites. These „green” materials are made by natural fibers, as reinforcement, filled with natural-organic fillers, i.e. derived from renewable or biodegradable sources. At the same time, this relatively new class of materials faces several limits in comparison to traditional composites especially regarding the properties of resistance. This paper investigates the advantages of use of combination of natural fibers for improving mechanical proprieties of „green” composite materials. At the moment, the prevailing opinion is that green composites are not usable in structural applications, and, as a consequence, have to be relegated to unworthy applications (as fillers). On the contrary, there are several evidences that mixing different natural fibers (in practice usually called „hybridization”) leads to an improvement of these material properties. Although usually quite limited in terms of percentage, these improvements from time to time allow a new enlargement in the fields of applications for green composites. Following a large state-of-the-art on green composites, including potential benefits and limits of these materials, the paper proposes several examples of hybridization showing its effect on mechanical proprieties.
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