Effect of 3D printing process parameters on flexural strength of mixing PLA and PCL polymer

Effect of 3D printing process parameters on flexural strength of mixing PLA and PCL polymer

3D Printer is a breakthrough in manufacturing technology based on a layer-by-layer printing process through various raw material input techniques. One of them is additive manufacturing technology, namely 3D Printing, widely used in the medical device industry. This study aims to obtain parameters that affect the mixture of polylactic acid and polycaprolactone on the flexural strength of test specimens for applying bone plate for orthopaedic implants with print temperature, print speed, and layer thickness referring to ASTM-D790 with dimensions of 120x10x4 mm. The test data were analyzed based on a two factorial level experimental design with a three interaction factor design model, which was processed using the Anova method. The results of the analysis show that the parameters that affect the flexural strength are printing temperature of 32%, the printing speed of 30%, and layer thickness of 29%, with the conclusion that the Print temperature parameter has the most significant contribution to the flexural strength of a mixture of PLA and PCL specimens.