Influence of the Heated-Bed Material on PLA Mechanical Properties and Energy Consumption in the FDM Process

Among the different investigations carried out on polymer additive manufacturing, the influence of the plate material is often neglected. The energy-saving perspective forces us to study the improvement of the 3D printer architecture to optimize the process conditions by minimizing power and energy consumption. This research moves from the intent to preserve the part quality and avoid energy dissipation in the 3D printer plate. This component requires the most energy input to work properly and it is also in direct contact with the workpiece, resulting in paramount for the lower layers. By analyzing a previously assessed set of process parameters, three plate materials were adopted and investigated in this study. Tensile and ultrasonic tests were carried out to evaluate the PLA specimen’s quality and mechanical performance: Both gave good results proving the poor influence of the metallic plate on the workpiece. The results obtained in this experimental study allowed to release of some guidelines for better decision-making in the choice of a material plate for desktop 3D printers to print PLA from a sustainable perspective. The best results have been observed by selecting V = 110 mm/s and T = 215 °C as process conditions by using the aluminum plate. Also, the ultrasound analysis confirms greater uniformity of the material at a printing speed V = 110 mm/s for all the printing plates indicating a low influence of the printing plates used on the material uniformity.