Mechanical and dimensional performance of poly(lactic acid) 3D-printed parts using thin plate spline interpolation

In additive manufacturing, determining the correct deposition parameters is very important as this can affect the final properties of printed parts. Since there is no agreement on the optimal level of the different printing parameters in reported results, this work evaluated the influences of layer thickness (LT), deposition speed (DS) and printing direction (PD) on tensile properties and dimensional accuracy of poly(lactic acid) 3D parts evaluating the possibility of using thin plate spline interpolation method (TPSIM) of data, a new approach, in determination of optimized fused deposition modeling process parameters. It was observed that the use of low levels of LT (0.10 mm), DS (40 mm/s), and PD (0 degrees) provided parts with higher mechanical strength and dimensional performance. Denser parts showed lower anisotropy effect and, consequently, best tensile properties were obtained. TPSIM was an efficient mathematical analysis and well fitted results of predicted and experimental results.