SELECTION OF POLYMER EXTRUSION PARAMETERS BY FACTORIAL EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN – A DECISION MAKING MODEL
S. Raja, A. John Rajan
Abstract
In this modern world, 3D printing technology plays a very important role in the manufacturing sector. It can be found easily in recent decades, be the increasing use of 3D printing in many fields and including FDM [Fusion Deposition Modelling] technology. This research paper is for an Indian electrical switch product-based manufacturing MSME [Micro Small and Medium Enterprises] company, to select the optimum set of printing parameters of the FDM machine for producing a high-quality final product in less time. To this end, the fifteen pieces of ASTM D638 tensile specimen were fabricated with a modified cluster of fourteen printing parameters for ensuring the mechanical property with less production time by the results of fabrication time, tensile test, and microstructure analysis. Moreover, the Design of Experiments (DoE) has been used for the analysis of the tensile strength and FESEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope) equipment has been used for the analysis of microstructures. Finally, the optimum printing/process parameters have been suggested to the MSME Company based on the experimental results.