Flexural fatigue properties of polycarbonate fused-deposition modelling specimens

This report presents an experimental investigation on the influence of part build orientation on the flexural fatigue behaviours of fused-deposition modelling (FDM) processed polycarbonate (PC) parts. Quantification of fatigue behaviour is required to show the feasibility of manufacturing industrial parts with the FDM technique. Therefore, stress-cyclic strain (S-N) curves were experimentally obtained for alternating stress (R − 1) and mean stress (R − 0.5). Test performances show that the part build orientation significantly affects the dynamic behaviour of FDM parts because of the inner anisotropy. Furthermore, to prove the validity of simulation methods such as finite element analysis (FEA), a case study was conducted. A designed part was simulated with FEA and the obtained von Mises stresses were corrected using the Goodman correction and the S-N curve for R − 1. This part was also manufactured and tested to compare the simulated and experimental results. The results show good accuracy between the virtual and physical models.