Shrinkage compensation approach proposed for ABS material in FDM process

Dimensional accuracy of parts manufactured by Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) greatly suffers from the shrinkage problems of the available polymer materials. This paper proposes a constructive idea for resolving the shrinkage issues and explains how shrinkage could be managed by interior geometry of the artifacts fabricated on desktop 3D printers. The main principle for preventing the deterioration on dimensional accuracy of the holes/slots is to utilize the auxiliary lines located from the hole’s perimeter to the outer boundaries of the artifact. Thus, the shrinkage of these auxiliary line segments simply helps to pull the original hole backward, acting against the predicted contraction. In this paper, the proposed approach will be examined using a finite element analysis tool to predict the shrinkage behavior of the fabricated samples along with necessary measurements taken on the Coordinate Measuring Machine. Additionally, an analytical framework for modeling the shrinkage behavior of ABS is to be elaborated. The coherence of the simulations and the measurements are to be analyzed regarding the effect of the geometry and material color on the shrinkage behavior. The discussion involves the improvement on the dimensional accuracy of 3D printed features.