Analysis of the energy consumption of 3D printing

Abstract

3D printing and sustainability are two topics that have gained importance separately, and recently combined. The aim of this project is to optimize the 3D printing process by reducing the energy consumption without sacrificing the quality of the finished parts. This was done by analysing the impacts of process parameters on these factors. The six process parameters chosen for this project were the printing speed, the nozzle temperature, the print bed temperature, the fan rate, the layer thickness, and the infill density. These parameters were analysed by an experimental plan generated by the Taguchi Design of Experiment (DOE). The Creality CR-10S was used for the printing, first as a fused filament fabrication (FFF) printer, and then as a fused granular fabrication (FGF) printer with the use of the Mahor V4 pellet extruder. The energy consumption of the 3D printing processes was recorded by a data logger. The filament material used for the FFF process was produced by a filament maker, which was also connected to a data logger for the recording of the energy consumption. The results conclude that the process parameters that had the greatest impact on the energy consumption were the layer thickness, and the print bed temperature, for both FFF and FGF. Higher levels of layer thickness reduced the energy consumption whilst higher levels of print bed temperature increased the energy consumption. The layer thickness also had an impact on the quality, mainly the mass of FFF and FGF prints, and the surface quality of FGF prints. Another process parameter that impacted the quality of the prints was the infill density. Higher levels of infill density increased the mass of the part and impacted the dimensions for both processes.