An Experimental Study of Surface Improvement in FDM Parts by Vapor Treatment Process

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the most adaptable additive manufacturing method owing to the cost-effectiveness and environment-friendly nature. However, FDM technique still possesses major difficulties in terms of poor surface quality because of adding layer by layer manufacturing process for the prototypes. It is desirable to explore an efficient technique for FDM parts to enhance the poor surface quality and dimensions precision. In the present paper, an effort has been made to enhance the surface quality and optimize the critical processing parameter of FDM based benchmark using vapor smoothing process (VSP). A comparative experimental study has been performed by design of experiments (DOE), Taguchi technique to find the influence of input design parameters on the surface finish of benchmark FDM parts. The results of the present investigation show that VSP treatment improves the surface quality of FDM parts to micro level with negligible dimensional variation. It is observed that improved surface quality is found in the 1,2, -Dichloroethane chemical at 90° part build orientation, 0.25 mm layer thickness, 10% fill density and 90 second exposure times.