Set-Up of an Experimental Procedure for the Surface Smoothing of FDM Parts through Acetone Vapor

Abstract

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is an additive manufacturing technology where three-dimensional physical models are manufactured by layer-by-layer deposition. However, the layered surface built with FDM suffers from poor surface quality and dimensional accuracy even for basic part geometries. This proves to be unacceptable and not satisfactory for most general purposes with the consequence of a decreased value of the final product. Several methods for post-processing were proposed to achieve fine surface of manufactured components. In particular, for components manufactured with polylactic acid (PLA) the chemical post-processing with dimethyl ketone (acetone), named vapor smoothing process, seems to be very promising to significantly improve the surface roughness. Moreover, acetone has the main advantage to have a low cost, low toxicity and high diffusion rate. However, this polishing procedure may dissolve the outer surface of the parts affecting the structural reliability of the part. In this work, a novel device, consisting of a cylindrical chamber in Pyrex, is set-up for the vapor smoothing process with acetone. The system is designed to permit the injection of a gas containing acetone at different concentrations and at different operating conditions (temperature, contact time). The samples used for the test are truncheon design manufactured using different printer settings; each truncheon is built at inclination angles varying from 0° to 45° in step of 5°. The variation of the surface roughness was investigated using a confocal microscope Leica DCM3D, equipped with the software LeicaScan and LeicaMap.

Facile Surface Treatment of 3D-Printed PLA Filter for Enhanced Graphene Oxide Doping and Effective Removal of Cationic Dyes

“…Moreover, the effect of acetone as a plasticizer decreased as the acetone evaporated with respect to the drying time. The previous study reported by Coppola et al (2019) [ 41 ] showed the use of acetone vapor for a post-processing surface smoothing treatment process. Hence, the surface modified PLA with acetone with drying time became smoother, and thus, the amount of loaded GO might become lower by increasing after the acetone treatment with increased drying time.…”

Design and Development of Hot Vapour Polishing System and Optimization of It’s Process Parameters for FDM Printed Parts

“…Vapour smoothening using acetone on polylactic acid (PLA) specimens is the subject of [25] report's experimental setting. The setup includes a device that moderates the amount of acetone used at varied concentrations under variable operating parameters, such as temperature and control time.…”

“…The setup includes a device that moderates the amount of acetone used at varied concentrations under variable operating parameters, such as temperature and control time. FDM components post-treatment was explored in [25] experiment with great depth. In which, the setup had a pyrex cylindrical chamber, two electrical furnaces, stainless steel hook for hanging the model and gas injection unit for injecting vapour from the bottom, and a condensation unit for feeding acetone vapour back to the metering pump for re-injection into the heating element.…”

“…There are also flowmeters and t-connectors in the arrangement. So, to summarise, results in [25] demonstrate that adding acetone PLA slurry significantly improved the surface quality, but also reduced the model's overall thermal conductivity.…”