INVESTIGATING THE INFLUENCE OF INFILL DENSITY AND POST-PROCESSING PARAMETERS ON 3D PRINTED PLA COPPER COMPOSITE

Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is a common 3D printing technique currently in use. FDM can now produce metal products using a cost-effective technology developed by the Virtual Foundry filament. Analyze various parameters, and this study investigated the effects of three parameters: infill density, holding hours of debinding, and sintering. Each parameter was tested at different levels using a copper metal filament composite, including shrinkage and porosity. Nine print runs were conducted by changing three parameters using the Taguchi method. The analysis found that the composition of all samples was almost the same, regardless of the different parameters and settings. The density of the infill has a significant impact on shrinkage. To prevent significant shrinkage during post-processing, the ideal infill density is 100%. In conclusion, the parameters do not affect the material composition. The infill density is a printing parameter proven to be more important than post-processing parameters, holding hours for debinding and sintering in terms of dimensional accuracy, shrinkage, and porosity.