The Simultaneous Effect of FFF Build Orientation on Tensile Strength, Flatness and Roughness

Build orientation significantly influences the overall performance of products realized with Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) - based Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology. Based on an extensive experimental campaign, this study aims to investigate the simultaneous effect of build orientation on tensile strength, flatness, and surface roughness of PET-G (PolyEthylene Terephtalate Glycol) samples realized via FFF. A thorough analysis was conducted to clarify the connection between the rotation angles, which define the part orientation within the build volume, and the output variables. The results indicated a significant dependency of all the measured outputs on the out-of-plane rotation angle. The printing process tends to generate specimens with tensile strength negatively correlated to flatness and roughness, offering precious cues toward optimizing build orientation to improve the overall performance of FFF parts.