Mechanical Characterization of PLA Used in Manufacturing of 3D Printed Medical Equipment for COVID-19 Pandemic

The 3D printing technology allows to overcome the lack of medical equipment during the Covid19 pandemic around the world. The PLA is widely used to produce medical devices and personal protective equipment. The aim of this paper is to determine the mechanical behavior of PLA-parts fabricated using Open-Source 3D printer based on FDM process. The mechanical behavior is characterized by two proprieties which are flexural strength and flexural modulus of elasticity. The mechanical properties are determined from the experimental results of three-point bending test according to the following process parameters: printing speed, deposition angle and extruder temperature. The results obtained show that the mechanical properties depend on the three process parameters. The response surface method and the variance analysis technique were used to establish an empirical model between process parameters and mechanical properties. The optimal printing parameters were determined using the desirability function. The Finite Element Analysis for Flexural Strength was performed to validate the experimental results.