Predicting mechanical properties of material extrusion additive manufacturing-fabricated structures with limited information.

Mechanical properties of additively manufactured structures fabricated using material extrusion additive manufacturing are predicted through combining thermal modeling with entanglement theory and molecular dynamics approaches. A one-dimensional model of heat transfer in a single road width wall is created and validated against both thermography and mechanical testing results. Various model modifications are investigated to determine which heat transfer considerations are important to predicting properties. This approach was able to predict tear energies on reasonable scales with minimal information about the polymer. Such an approach is likely to be applicable to a wide range of amorphous and low crystallinity thermoplastics.