Page 54 - eBook_Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Manufacturing V1

Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Manufacturing –
Volume 1

MATERIALS AND METHODS

An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the influence of
ambient temperature on the quality of 3D printed components
under varying enclosure conditions. The primary focus was to
analyse the effects of utilising PMMA and blockboard as the core-
side walls of a custom-built enclosure. For benchmarking
purposes, a comparative experiment was simultaneously executed
under open-air, non-enclosed conditions. Acrylonitrile Butadiene
Styrene (ABS) filament, with a diameter of 1.75 mm, was selected
for the printing process due to its favourable thermal properties
and prevalent use in FDM applications. Figure 5 shows the
flowchart of the experimental process.

Figure 5: Experimental process flowchart

The fabrication was performed using a Creality Ender 3 Pro
3D printer, which is recognised for its accuracy and dependability
in desktop additive manufacturing processes. A complex
geometric model was specifically designed using Autodesk 3ds
Max software, intended to showcase the capability of the FDM
technique to fabricate intricate shapes and to investigate how
varying ambient conditions influence print outcomes. The
resultant STL file from the CAD design was subsequently
prepared with suitable slicing parameters before printing.

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