Methodology to estimate the modulus of elasticity of parts manufactured by FFF/FDM combining finite element simulations and experimental tests

Abstract Due to the manufacturing characteristics “layer by layer” of Additive Manufacturing processes (AM) such as Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) or Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) techniques, the manufactured parts exhibit anisotropic behaviour, and therefore it is complex to estimate their mechanical response. Consequently, finite element (FE) modelling of the performance of this kind of additive parts can be time-consuming, especially for implicit algorithms. For this reason, in this work, a proposal of simplified FEM model is presented to reduce the computation time but keeping accurate results, when predicting the modulus of elasticity of FDM parts. The methodology is based in a combination of experimental and numerical simulation techniques. A FEM model is developed using the commercial finite element software Abaqus/Standard. The parameters considered in this study are the percentage of infill (25, 50 and 75%) and the construction orientation (XYZ). Tensile tests were performed following the guidelines specified in the standards UNE-EN ISO 17296-3 and UNE-EN ISO 527-2. The comparison of the elastic behaviour obtained by both experimental and simulation techniques allowed to adjust the simulation parameters, resulting in a simplified FE model. The methodology presented can be used as a prediction tool to analyse the tensile mechanical behaviour of this kind of samples.