An Experimental Analysis of 3D Printed Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA) Specimens as Per ASTM Standard Using Taguchi and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Approach

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is a fast-growing 3D printing technique because of its capacity to produce functional components with complicated shapes. The mechanical characteristics of 3D printed components are influenced by many process factors of FDM 3D printers. The present research examined the optimum settings for FDM 3D printers to use with Polylactic Acid (PLA) materials. The printed PLA specimens were subjected to tensile and flexural testing in accordance with ASTM standards to assess their mechanical qualities. The experiments were carefully planned using the Taguchi method of an L9 orthogonal array with four factors at three levels each. Infill pattern, printing speed, printing temperature, and layer thickness were selected as four factors to optimize. Regression modeling, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and the Taguchi S/N ratio are used to analyze the data from tensile and flexural testing. The findings suggest that the mechanical strength is significantly influenced by the interactions among Infill patterns, printing speed, layer thickness, and printing temperature.