Development of Ti‐PLA Composites via Fused Deposition Modeling for Enhanced Mechanical Performance

ABSTRACT Sandwich composites are a combination of different materials in a single part. The sandwich structure has several advantages over a single material, such as: enhanced mechanical properties, noise absorption, thermal insulation, easy to manufacture etc. This paper presents an approach for creating metal‐polymer composite parts in a sandwich structure through fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology. Composite samples of Ti‐PLA were then tested using tensile strength and SEM analyses to evaluate mechanical strength and the adhesion between surfaces. Initially, mechanical preparation of the Ti parts' surfaces was required in order to create high roughness and ensure good adhesion of the PLA deposited by 3D printing. Following the analysis of the effects of independent variables on dependent variables using the ANOVA method, it was found that the temperature of the building platform (BP) had a significant influence. In the case of the Ti‐PLA composite, the tensile strength obtained, as an average value of the three tests, was approximately three times higher than the tensile strength for PLA. Similarly, the results showed that the highest tensile strength values were obtained when using the highest value for the BP temperature. The SEM images show good adhesion between the PLA layer and the Ti layer.