Numerical and Experimental Investigations of Thermal Conductivity of 3D Printed Polylactic Acid

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a plastic material used occasionally for thermal insulation. Thus, information is required with respect to the thermal insulation property specific to various types of PLA. On the other hand, the development of 3D printing processes has led to ensuring the conditions for manufacturing PLA parts, with properties that can be modified by varying the input factors of printing process. The proposed experimental research method uses the measurement of temperature variation on one surface of PLA panel, while applying a cooling process on the opposite surface. Several panels with different characteristics are tested. The experimental results are processed using a specialized software and an empirical mathematical model is developed. The model highlights the influence of panel thickness, cooling duration, infill, and deposited layer thickness with respect to the temperature of the panel surface opposite to the cooled one.