The Experimental Investigation of the Mechanical Properties of FDM-printed CeO2-reinforced PLA Materials

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a significant manufacturing method that has recently attracted attention. In this method, a model is created and a production process develops around it. Computer-aided applications or ready-made designs are sufficient for model design to support production. Three-dimensional (3D) printers are commonly used for production according to the melt deposition modeling (FDM) principle. In the FDM method, also called material extrusion (MEX), filaments are heated in the print head and deposited layer by layer on the 3D printer build plate. Polylactic acid (PLA) is the most commonly used filament raw material in the FDM method. Obtained from natural resources, PLA is also a thermoplastic polymer material with biological properties and suitability for further development. In this study, 2% by weight of CeO2 oxide powder was added to a pure PLA matrix, and the mechanical properties of the resulting composite were investigated. For this purpose, tensile, compressive, three-point bending, and fatigue tests were performed, and the results were compared with pure PLA. According to the results obtained, significant changes were observed in all mechanical properties of the pure PLA matrix with the addition of CeO2. In conclusion, it was determined that the addition of CeO2 to pure PLA polymer resulted in increases of approximately 27%, 25%, 28%, and 58% in tensile, compressive, flexural, and fatigue tests, respectively.