Lap Shear Strength Assessment of Acetone Welded 3D-Printed ABS Polymer

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is one of the most common polymer 3D printing technologies used in many applications today. However, limited volume capacity for 3D printing large parts or components is the usual downside of this technology, especially desktop 3D printers. Hence, to offset this limitation, the 3D-printed parts are often designed in multiple pieces and assembled after printing, which requires post-processing called cold welding. Such welds are also quite strong but not as strong as a single-piece print. Therefore, finding suitable parameters or settings that can provide substantial strength for cold-welded 3D-printed parts will be beneficial. This study aims to determine the failing behavior and shear strength of ABS FDM 3D-printed single-lap joint using ABS glue as adhesive. Specimens were printed with varying raster angles (+45o/-45o and 0o/90o) and layer thickness (290 μm, 190 μm, and 90 μm) to investigate the effects on the adhesion or shear strength and failure mode of the acetone welded 3D-printed joints. Results show that raster angle and layer thickness significantly affected the shear strength of acetone welded materials. Single-lap joint test sample printed with +45o/-45o raster angle reveals higher shear strength than specimens printed with 0o/90o raster angle. Results also indicated that the gaps between the raster and voids between adjacent filaments of 3D-printed parts affects the adhesion and failure mode of a single-lap joint.