Mechanical properties of 16 different FDM-plastic types

Combined with the increased significance of additive manufacturing technologies in recent years, the FDM-process in particular became more and more important and widespread in private and industrial applications. In the course of the development of a variety of material types, a validation for technical utilization is of great interest. For that reason, standardized samples in three different layer orientations, made of 16 different filament materials, were FDM-printed and tensile tested at room temperature in order to determine their mechanical behavior. Besides the usual plastic types for FDM-printing, such as PLA, ABS or PETG, compound filaments from the four categories metal, carbon, wood, and stone were examined. Carbon showed for any technical applications the most practical results, since the particles increase overall strength and simultaneously contribute to reduced weight. The other composite materials too, for environmental and eco-friendly reasons, are still of interest, although tests have shown that no significant change in resilience has occurred. Moreover, it is found that a crosswise printing direction leads to the best results.