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Development of a laboratory module to analyze the effect of 3D printing orientation on material properties

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Conference

2022 ASEE - North Central Section Conference

Location

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Publication Date

March 18, 2022

Start Date

March 18, 2022

End Date

April 4, 2022

Page Count

10

DOI

10.18260/1-2--39239

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/39239

Download Count

337

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Paper Authors

biography

Samuel Joel Rainey Geneva College

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Samuel Rainey is an undergraduate student at Geneva College. He is a senior pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in engineering with a concentration in mechanical engineering, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in physics. He is currently working on a senior design project entailing the design and manufacture of a vehicle for the SAE mini Baja challenge, and hopes to purse a Master’s of Science in Engineering while working in the industry after graduation.

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biography

Christopher Charles Jobes P.E. Geneva College Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-9667-8048

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Dr. Jobes is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, a Professional Engineer certified in Pennsylvania with his own consulting company, and is a Research Engineer for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Pittsburgh Research Center. He worked for the U. S. Bureau of Mines in control and navigation of a computer-assisted mining machine from 1987 through 1997 earning his Professional Engineering certification from Pennsylvania in 1989. Dr. Jobes has since been working for NIOSH in Mining Equipment Safety, Jolting and Jarring Abatement in Mining Machinery, underground refuge alternatives, and Interventions to Enhance Continuous Miner Operator Safety developing Proximity Detection technology. He is currently a Research Engineer studying EMI and performing FMEA analyses for underground coal equipment. Dr. Jobes has been teaching in Geneva College's Engineering Department since 2007 and has been a full-time professor since 2015. His areas of interest lie in Engineering Mechanics, Machine Component Design, Finite Element Analysis, Kinematics, Robotics, Digital Systems Design, Mechanical Vibrations and Control Theory.

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Abstract

The growing importance of additive manufacturing techniques in the engineering industry makes the discussion of this topic at the undergraduate level increasingly useful. In particular, the significance of the specific material properties of the printed material provides students with an invaluable look at the importance of the orientation of anisotropic materials. In this paper, the material properties associated with the thermoplastic Polylactic Acid (PLA) printed via the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printing method are examined. Specifically, fabricated test pieces are printed at various orientations and then tested for their tensile strength. To determine the optimum number of test pieces for this experiment, ten different orientations rotated in 15-degree intervals on all three axes of rotation are examined. Three pieces are printed for each orientation, and their measured properties are averaged to account for variations caused by unpredictable changes in the printing process. The ultimate strength of each test piece and equivalent moduli of elasticity are calculated and compared to the strength and modulus of an unprinted strand. An experiment is designed with the intent of allowing undergraduate students to repeat a modified form of this experiment in the form of a laboratory assignment for a Mechanics of Materials course. Test pieces with the most representative orientation changes were selected to be given to students for testing. An alternate version of the lab is presented which would allow students to develop their own test pieces in a competition format. The results compiled from a group of undergraduate students at a variety of experience levels that completed the experiment and provided feedback related to the lab’s effectiveness at making the concepts of material testing and anisotropic materials clear are presented.

Rainey, S. J., & Jobes, C. C. (2022, March), Development of a laboratory module to analyze the effect of 3D printing orientation on material properties Paper presented at 2022 ASEE - North Central Section Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--39239

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