Journal Article

Optimization of the mechanical behavior of ABS and PLA 3D printed using heat treatments

Escobar-Barrios, Vladimir, Tapia, Fidencio, Rodríguez-Reyna, S. L., Acevedo-Parra, H. R., Díaz-Aguilera, J. H.

2025

Overview

This research evaluated the ultimate tensile strength (UTS), hardness and crystallinity of 3D printed parts with and without heat treatments (HT). For acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), temperatures of 70, 80 and 90 °C were applied for 10, 20 and 30 min, and for PLA, 75, 90 and 105 °C were applied for 20, 40 and 60 min. The experimental design included two factors: percentage of infill (33%, 66% and 100%) and geometric pattern (linear, triangular and hexagonal), with three levels of measurement for each factor. UTS increased with higher infill percentage, reaching 35.5 MPa for ABS and 46.5 MPa for PLA with hexagonal pattern. Optimal HTs raised UTS to 49 MPa for ABS (70 °C, 10 min) and 64 MPa for PLA (75 °C, 20 min), matching or exceeding the properties of the original filament. In addition, hardness and crystallinity improved, reducing internal voids and strengthening mechanical properties. Thus, the methodology presented in this work joining Design of Experiments and HT contributes to pieces with a better mechanical performance. Graphical Abstract Optimization of ABS and PLA printed parts via heat treatments

• Publisher: Springer International Publishing,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: 3-D printers / Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene / Applied and Technical Physics / Biomaterials / Characterization and Evaluation of Materials / Chemistry and Materials Science / Consumption / Crystallinity / Design factors / Design of experiments / Hardness / Heat treatment / Manufacturers / Materials Engineering / Materials Science / Mechanical properties / Nanotechnology / Optimization / Original Paper / Software / Sustainability / Temperature / Tensile strength / Three dimensional printing / Ultimate tensile strength