Fused Filament Fabrication over fabrics: experiments and applications

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to explore the use of Fused Filament Fabrication technology, a material extrusion additive manufacturing technology, by depositing melted Polilactic Acid (PLA) over a substrate – fabric - instead of on an empty building tray. The textile’s composition, nozzle and building plate temperature, printed PLA thickness and printed geometry have been considered as variables that could influence the structural and adhesion properties on this study so, therefor, were took into consideration and tested throughout the printing process through specimens printed with different combined parameters. The aim of this exploration process was developing an experimental procedure to study the limitations and capabilities of this printing technology over textiles, and which different variables’ combination would contribute to a better overall result in the development of a self-supporting textile based structural model, that could be apply in different contexts without the need of any extra external support. Results showed that PLA adherence to the fabric is correlated with nozzle/building plate temperature and printing thickness: higher temperature and thickness provide higher adherence. The weave of the textile didn´t reflect on better results but the polyester felt fabric exhibit maximum adherence with printed PLA in all sets of temperatures. In addition, geometries with reinforcement lines along the fabric stress direction provided better structural results. These results enable new application possibilities for the FFF technology combined in fabrics such as in interior, fashion and shoe ware design.