Utilization of fused deposition method 3D printing for evaluation of discrete element method simulations

FDM 3D printing is used for designing prototype assessment in engineering production. It is usually used to verify the functionality of kinematics mechanisms. It can also be used for innovation in agricultural production, eg. the development of new mechanisms for agriculture tools. Such a mechanism as well as the entire components is printed using FDM and they are made of plastics. This whole can be experimentally verified in a laboratory trough. The article deals with the verification of the possibilities of using FDM technology for the design of agricultural tools. The material properties, namely stress-strain, of the plastics after printing are entered into the Ansys mechanical library, and the DEM results are also imported into Ansys mechanical. Material properties of plastics for FDM technology such as PLA, PETG show that its mechanical properties limited their using for validation.