Study regarding the influence of material type on economic objectives in MEX fabrication

Abstract

Material Extrusion has been used extensively as an additive manufacturing technology for a variety of applications like visual models, functional prototypes, tooling components, patterns for castings, and final parts. The current research paper proposes a study on the material type influence on economic objectives in material extrusion fabrication of complex assemblies. Three economic objectives have been analysed, namely, estimated fabrication time, material usage and material cost, whilst two commercial additive manufacturing machines have been considered for the simulation. Cura and ZSuite slicing software were used for the generation of Gcode and project files. Five filaments were selected from the same manufacturer and all components of the selected assembly were included in the analysis. Throughout the study, the additive manufacturing parameters were kept constant, as well as the component layout on the build platform of the two machines. Study results were analysed in correspondence with the manufacturing requirements and the optimum fabrication scenario was selected. Further research includes the analysis of multiple material manufacturers, in order to evaluate the influence of chemical composition on economic outputs.