Strength and stiffness of 3D-printed connectors compared with the wooden mortise and tenon joints for chairs

Application of Additive Manufacturing Technology for Chair Parts Connections

“…It comes to the conclusion that an excessive strength of the products could bring unnecessary costs, which can be reduced by finding cheaper solutions with a lower but sufficient strength of the product [24]. Based on the conclusions of the researchers mentioned before [24,28], by using the 3D-printed connectors proposed in the present paper for jointing the chair elements, it is possible to achieve enough strength of the final product and this will be the subject of further research. The results from Figure 7 show that the mechanical performance of the chair parts assembled with the 3D-printed connector using the sintering technology and PA12 powder is lower than that of the classical mortise-tenon joints made of larch wood.…”

“…It comes to the conclusion that an excessive strength of the products could bring unnecessary costs, which can be reduced by finding cheaper solutions with a lower but sufficient strength of the product [24]. Based on the conclusions of the researchers mentioned before [24,28], by using the 3D-printed connectors proposed in the present paper for jointing the chair elements, it is possible to achieve enough strength of the final product and this will be the subject of further research.…”

“…The average values of the maximum forces recorded when using the 3D-printed connector were of 350 N for the tensile load and 209 N for the compression load, representing 65% and 58%, respectively, of the values recorded by the reference assembly. Comparatively, when testing the chairs [28], the results showed that joints with 3D-printed connectors had a 42-51% lower failure load than that achieved with traditional wooden mortise-tenon joints with similar dimensions. Even so, the chair had enough strength for a person to sit on it [28].…”

“…Comparatively, when testing the chairs [28], the results showed that joints with 3D-printed connectors had a 42-51% lower failure load than that achieved with traditional wooden mortise-tenon joints with similar dimensions. Even so, the chair had enough strength for a person to sit on it [28]. It comes to the conclusion that an excessive strength of the products could bring unnecessary costs, which can be reduced by finding cheaper solutions with a lower but sufficient strength of the product [24].…”

“…In order to test the strength and stiffness of the L-type corner joints, both for solid wood and wood-based panels, two methods are applied in the literature, namely the diagonal compression and the diagonal tensile test, respectively [11,[23][24][25]. A chair was built with 3D-printed connectors designed for chair leg and side rails jointing, made from ABS filament by using the FDM-printing technology [28]. The wooden parts were made of beech wood, and connectors with wall thicknesses of 3 mm and 5 mm, respectively, were bonded with the wooden parts with a polyurethane adhesive.…”