MORE | Spring 2022

Effect of Fused Deposition Modeling Printing Parameters on Mechanical and Thermal Behavior of PLA/Nanodiamond Composite

Poly Lactic Acid (PLA), a thermoplastic polymer is well known for its biocompatibility, making it ideal for the manufacturing of biomedical devices. However, the current applications of PLA are limited by its intrinsic polymer characteristics. To enhance these properties, a biocompatible nanodiamond enhanced PLA filament has been studied. Four printing parameters — nozzle temperature, layer height, infill pattern, printing speed — were considered and Taguchi L9 orthogonal array was implemented for the design of experiments. The samples were designed and tested for tensile strength, flexural strength, and thermal conductivity. Taguchi analysis was performed to determine the contribution of parameters and predict optimum printing parameters.