Optimizing mechanical properties of virgin and recycled PLA components using Anova and neural networks

Abstract

The increasing demand for polymers in additive manufacturing (AM) has led to a significant increase in plastic waste, with over 300 million metric tons used in recent years. This research article explores the use of Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) as a biodegradable thermoplastic recycled material for 3D printed components, comparing its properties with virgin PLA and discussing solutions for variation and mechanical features improvement. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is a widely used additive manufacturing process that allows for the creation of three-dimensional objects by depositing molten material layer by layer. This study investigates the impact of infill density, layer thickness, and raster angle for recycled 3D printing material, focusing on their dimensions and their influence on processing efficiency. This research paper aims to investigate the mechanical effects of recycled 3d printed components which are printed by using FDM with the combination of different process parameters compared with virgin PLA. From results optimal process parameters are found to enhancing quality and performance of recycled 3D printed components. Later results are compared by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) as a statistical tool and also with ANN technique, which minimizes error deviation.