Feed rate and volume of material effects in fused deposition modeling nozzle wear

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is a fast growing technology due to its ability to build functional parts having complex geometrical shape in reasonable time period. Traditionally, FDM have been able to build parts only in thermoplastic but the modern FDM can process parts in composite material filaments such as poly lactic acid (PLA) filled bronze, iron or stainless steel in which these materials will cause nozzle wear. The wear of the nozzle depends on many process variables. In this study, two important process parameters include feed rate and volume of material are considered. Experiments were conducted by using standard nozzle, fitted with FDM machine and printed PLA metal-filled material, then nozzle wear was investigated by microscope. The results showed the effects of these process parameters that significant effect on the FDM nozzle wear.