ABSTRACT Predictable thermally induced morphing in fused deposition modeled thermoplastics remains difficult because the deformation response is highly sensitive to processing and activation conditions. In particular, predictive approaches for Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) that directly relate manufacturing parameters to curvature response remain limited. This study investigates the thermally induced shape‐morphing behavior of 4D‐printed ABS beams and develops a predictive framework coupling experimental parameter screening with finite element modeling (FEM). A systematic experimental program was conducted to evaluate the effects of printing speed, layer height, extrusion width, nozzle temperature, and activation temperature on deformation response. The results were analyzed using a Taguchi‐based design, regression modeling, and layer‐resolved FEM with experimentally derived layer‐specific coefficients of thermal expansion. Nozzle temperature was identified as the dominant factor, accounting for more than 50% of the variation in chord length and up to 65% in arc height, while activation temperature and layer height also had important effects, particularly on arc length. The regression models achieved R 2 values above 0.75 for all responses and up to 0.96 for arc length, while the FEM reproduced the experimental deformation profiles with generally good agreement. These findings support the use of ABS as a promising material for one‐way thermally activated morphing.
Kostopoulos et al. (Sat,) studied this question.