Examination of New Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) Filaments for Applications with Large Temperature Variations

Today, 3D printing is no longer only used for rapid prototyping, but also for the production of customized objects, spare parts, etc. However, printed parts often exhibit mechanical and thermal inadequacies. Here, we investigate novel filaments for fused deposition modeling (FDM) with and without fibrous fillers before and after cyclic temperature variations between −40 °C and +80 °C, similar to the situation of a microsatellite in the low Earth orbit (LEO). Maximum bending forces, deflection at maximum force, and tensile strengths remained nearly unchanged for most materials after heat treatment, suggesting that most materials investigated here can be used in environments with strongly varying temperatures.