Mathematical modeling and parametric optimization of surface roughness for evaluating the effects of fused deposition modeling process parameters on ABS material

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology is production devices that use plastic material in the semi-molten state to harvest the products directly from the CAD model. This study describes the development of mathematical models to predict the effects of significant process parameters of the FDM on the surface roughness of ABS material. Experiments were planned as per Taguchi orthogonal array. Experiments were conducted under different printing input parameters of layer thickness, orientation angle, and infill angle. Response surface methods (RSM) have been employed to develop a predictive mathematical model in terms of controllable input parameters. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), main effect and interaction plot, 3D surface, and contour plot were used to investigate the influence of various printing parameters on surface roughness. Finally, Taguchi methodology and RSM approaches have been applied successfully for the optimization of surface roughness (Ra) in FDM printing parts. It was observed that the models can adequately describe the responses within the ranges considered as the maximum error percent in the prediction of mean Ra and S/N ratio of Ra are 14.61% and 18.83% respectively, which is in good agreement. The optimal combination of printing process parameters obtained indicates that optimum surface quality is layer thickness at 0.1mm, orientation angle at 0º, and infill angle at 0º.