Exploring the impact of epoxy coated 3D-Printed polymers on surface roughness and mechanical behavior: An experimental and numerical study

The present study used polymers such as PLA and ABS filaments for the 3D printing parts with varying layer thicknesses. The mechanical properties and surface finish of the as-printed and epoxy resin-coated samples were investigated. Noteworthy findings indicate that when the PLA material is printed at a layer thickness of 0.06 mm followed by no coating one can achieve superior tensile strength of approximately 39 MPa as compared to 20 MPa of ABS material. The ultimate tensile strength of the coated materials averaged approximately 15 MPa for both PLA and ABS. The surface roughness of PLA material printed with a 0.06 mm layer thickness showed a 95.13 % reduction after coating. Despite ABS samples being harder than PLA material, the layer thickness emerged as the most influential factor in enhancing the hardness. The dominance of lower layer thickness over other conditions is particularly evident in the modulus of elasticity. In addition to the experimental investigation, a non-linear structural analysis of the uniaxial tensile behaviour of the coated and uncoated 3D prints was also carried out. The fracture modes and deformation behaviours in numerical modelling and experimental results across various parametric conditions were found to be in good agreement. Specifically, the numerical results at lower loading conditions for a layer thickness of 0.06 mm PLA and ABS samples, in the uncoated conditions, mirrored the experimental outcomes.