Experimental investigations into abrasive flow machining (AFM) of 3D printed ABS and PLA parts

Purpose The surface roughness of additively manufactured parts is usually found to be high. This limits their use in industrial and biomedical applications. Therefore, these parts required post-processing to improve their surface quality. The purpose of this study is to finish three-dimensional (3D) printed acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polylactic acid (PLA) parts using abrasive flow machining (AFM). Design/methodology/approach A hydrogel-based abrasive media has been developed to finish 3D printed parts. The developed abrasive media has been characterized for its rheology and thermal stability using sweep tests, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The ABS and PLA cylindrical parts have been prepared using fused deposition modeling (FDM) and finished using AFM. The experiments were designed using Taguchi (L9 OA) method. The effect of process parameters such as extrusion pressure (EP), layer thickness (LT) and abrasive concentration (AC) was investigated on the amount of material removed (MR) and percentage improvement in surface roughness (%Delta R-a). Findings The developed abrasive media was found to be effective for finishing FDM printed parts using AFM. The microscope images of unfinished and finished showed a significant improvement in surface topography of additively manufactures parts after AFM. The results reveal that AC is the most significant parameter during the finishing of ABS parts. However, EP and AC are the most significant parameters for MR and %Delta R-a, respectively, during the finishing of PLA parts. Practical implications The FDM technology has applications in the biomedical, electronics, aeronautics and defense sectors. PLA has good biodegradable and biocompatible properties, so widely used in biomedical applications. The ventilator splitters fabricated using FDM have a profile similar to the shape used in the present study. Research limitations/implications The present study is focused on finishing FDM printed cylindrical parts using AFM. Future research may be done on the AFM of complex shapes and freeform surfaces printed using different additive manufacturing (AM) techniques. Originality/value An abrasive media consists of xanthan gum, locust bean gum and fumed silica has been developed and characterized. An experimental study has been performed by combining printing parameters of FDM and finishing parameters of AFM. A comparative analysis in MR and %Delta R-a has been reported between 3D printed ABS and PLA parts.

Automated summary

This study focused on finishing 3D printed cylindrical parts using abrasive flow machining (AFM), with developed abrasive media showing effectiveness in improving surface quality. The results indicated that abrasive concentration is the most significant parameter for finishing ABS parts, while extrusion pressure and abrasive concentration are crucial for finishing PLA parts.