Polymer Testing 87 (2020) 106520

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Polymer Testing
journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/polytest

Material Properties

Orthotropic elastic behaviors and yield strength of fused deposition

modeling materials: Theory and experiments
Shi Dai , Zi Chen Deng *, Ya Jun Yu **, Kai Zhang , Shu Heng Wang , Juan Ye
MIIT Key Laboratory of Dynamics and Control of Complex Systems, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710129, PR
China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This work is devoted to study the mechanical behaviors of polylactic acid (PLA) materials from additive
Additive manufacturing manufacturing, and an orthotropic model is established to predict the mechanical properties under arbitrary
Orthotropy printing orientation. Firstly, the morphology of PLA material is analyzed by using scanning electron microscopy,
Fused deposition modeling
from which the orthotropic behavior of PLA material is obtained. Three printing planes are adopted, and on each
Elasticity modulus
printing plane different printing angles may be selected. The mechanical parameters, including Young’s
Yield strength
modulus, yielding stress, and Poisson’s ratio, for material under different printing directions are determined via
quasi-static experiments. Secondly, the orthotropic constitutive model of PLA materials under different printing
angles is thus obtained, and the prediction method of orthotropic mechanical properties is built based on the
coordinate transformation matrix, where the orthotropic coordinate transformation matrix is acquired by atti­
tude angles (i.e., Euler angle, the rotation angle of the local coordinate system relative to the global coordinate
system). Finally, the theoretical prediction method was verified, and high-quality printing methods were rec­
ommended. In addition, the obtained results of the model show that: for PLA material, the orthotropic hypothesis
model is superior to the transverse isotropic hypothesis one. This present method is not only suitable for pre­
dicting the constitutive model of printed specimens in any direction but also for other materials of fused
deposition modeling.

1. Introduction
Additive manufacturing technology (or 3D printing) is capable of
generating structures directly from pre-designed digital models without
the need for additional tools or assemblies and is an innovative
manufacturing method for thermoplastic materials [1–3]. Regardless of
the complexity of the geometry and topology [4–7], it is easy to produce
high quality products at a low cost in a short amount of time by using a
3D printer. The applications of additive manufacturing technology are
also extensive, including biomedicine [8], aerospace, and basic in­
dustries [9,10].
Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is currently a well-developed
plastic 3D printing technology [11,12] that provides us with vast in­
dustrial prospects. Generally, the printed materials include acrylonitrile
butadiene styrene (ABS), polylactic acid (PLA), polycarbonate (PC), etc.
Among all these materials, PLA is the safest material: during the FDM
heating process, PLA exhibits high performance without producing toxic
gas. Mohan et al. [13] reviewed research works on the FDM process,
detailed the research on material and process parameter optimization,
and explained the extensive usages of thermoplastics (such as PLA, PC,
and ABS), metal matrix composites, ceramic composites, and
fiber-reinforced composites. Although there is presently insufficient
research on this topic, it is crucial to understand the mechanical per­
formance of FDM materials.
Rodríguez et al. [14,15] compared the elastic modulus and yield
strength of FDM printed samples with those of ABS filament materials
and concluded that the fiber-loaded components have the maximum
yield strength. Abbott et al. [16] set up a print parameter function to
assess the bond strength of ABS by performing tensile tests. Print speed
and temperature were found to have a considerable influence on tensile
strength, with higher speeds yielding lower strength. Motaparti et al.
[17] conducted a three-point bending experiment to study the bending

* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: gydsky@mail.nwpu.edu.cn (S. Dai), dweifan@nwpu.edu.cn (Z.C. Deng), yuyj@nwpu.edu.cn (Y.J. Yu), shuhengwang@mail.nwpu.edu.cn
(S.H. Wang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2020.106520
Received 28 November 2019; Received in revised form 20 March 2020; Accepted 27 March 2020
Available online 8 April 2020
0142-9418/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
S. Dai et al.
properties of FDM components. Flexibility was found to be primarily
dependent on the design parameters, including printing orientation,
raster angle, and air gap. Es-Said et al. [18] conducted extensive ex­
periments on FDM specimens of ABS materials with different printing
angles to study the mechanical properties, including yield strength,
modulus of rupture, and impact resistance. It was found that the sample
at the 0� printing angle exhibited the highest impact resistance among
all directions. Mei et al. [19] performed uniaxial tensile tests on 3D
printed carbon fiber composites with different printing directions and
investigated the impact of hot pressing on the mechanical properties of
different fiber angles. Results demonstrated that hot pressing improved
the mechanical properties of the 3D printed carbon fiber composites.
Ahn et al. [20] conducted parametric design experiments to evaluate the
effects of air gaps and studied two main components: the internal raster
and the outer shell. Their conclusion was that the direction of the in­
ternal raster (infill) and the size of the air gap have great influences on
the elastic modulus and strength of the FDM materials. Although there
has been an abundance of research on the mechanical properties of FDM
materials, few works are related to PLA materials. Due to the special
material nature (semi-crystalline) of PLA, the relation between printing
parameters and properties are more complicated than amorphous
thermoplastics such as ABS. Yao et al. [21] performed uniaxial tensile
tests on FDM PLA samples with different printing directions (0� , 15� ,
30� , 45� , 60� , 75� , and 90� ), and established a theoretical model for
predicting the ultimate yield strength of such materials based on the
transverse isotropic hypothesis, classical lamination theory, and
Hill-Tsai anisotropic yield criterion. Wang et al. [22] investigated two
printing parameters, layer height and plate temperature, on the impact
strength of printed PLA. Results demonstrated that the impact strength
of printed PLA at higher plate temperatures was higher than that of
injection-molded PLA made using conventional molding parameters.
It is well known that transverse isotropy is one special orthotropy.
Previous research is built upon the transverse isotropic assumptions
[20–27], where all the unknown elastic constants can be obtained from
the printing samples around one plane (which must include the fiber
direction). Thus, previous FDM mechanical properties studies rarely
considered the effects of the direction of gravity deposition.
Domingo-Espin et al. [28] performed tensile experiments of FDM poly­
carbonate (PC) materials to obtain nine elastic constants for the aniso­
tropic hypothesis. The research for FDM materials using orthotropic
assumption is significant; however, the constitutive model under
different printing angles is not considered. The orthotropic mechanical
properties of FDM materials and their consequences are important, and
the fact that they are understudied is cause for concern.
In this paper, the anisotropic mechanical properties and morpho­
logical features of PLA material produced by the FDM method are
investigated. The amorphous properties of PLA are analyzed using
scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and compared with those of crystal
materials. By considering the difference in mechanical properties of the
material in the gravity direction and the loose direction (perpendicular
to the fiber and gravity direction), an orthotropic constitutive model is
established. Furthermore, a performance prediction method is proposed
by the rotation angle and verified experimentally.
The structure of this paper is outlined as follows. The experimental
design and experimental overview are given in section 2. The ortho­
tropic hypothesis and transverse isotropic constitutive model are studied
in section 3. Experimental results and verification of theoretical results
are discussed in section 4. Finally, conclusions are drawn in section 5.
2. Experimental design
2.1. Preliminary experiment
The 3D printer used in the present study is a Raise3D Pro2 Plus, as
shown in Fig. 1. It is equipped with an electric double nozzle extrusion
system with a nozzle extrusion diameter range of 0.2 mm–1 mm. In this
2
Polymer Testing 87 (2020) 106520
study, the 0.4 mm diameter is adopted. The precision of the nozzle along
the direction of three cartesian axis is 0.78, 0.78, and 0.078 μm,
respectively. The maximum printing temperature of the nozzle and
printing platform was 300 � C and 110 � C, respectively. Consequently,
the 3D printer used is capable of printing many kinds of materials, such
as PLA, ABS, PC, high impact polystyrene (HIPS), acrylonitrile styrene
acrylate (ASA), and so on. It also supported metal particle-filled ther­
moplastic and another thermoplastic.
PLA is adopted as the printed material in this work because of its
excellent mechanical properties: the elastic modulus is between
approximately 2300 MPa and 2900 MPa, the tensile strength is
approximately 46.6 MPa, and the bending strength is approximately
85.1 MPa. All these properties are superior to ABS materials. Unlike ABS
materials, which release styrene gas when heated at elevated tempera­
tures, PLA plastics are a new type of biodegradable material made from
the raw starch materials of renewable plant resources. Additionally, PLA
plastics are convenient to process and widely used in practical appli­
cations due to their excellent physical and mechanical properties.
As shown in Fig. 2, filament is usually printed in two ways by raster
and shell: the shell-free model is given by Fig. 2(a), where the part is no
contour, and all infill raster. The full-shell model is depicted as Fig. 2(b),
where the part without infill, and all contours. It can be clearly observed
that the full-shell model is more prone to air gap, and the adjustment of
the relationship between the size of the part and the bead width
(determined by the size of the nozzle) is needed, otherwise there will be
a large gap in the middle of the part. Shell-free model, however, has less
air gap and looks more regular. The settings for these two parameters are
made in the ‘Idea Maker’ slicing software. For the printing details in this
paper, the shell-free model is used, the fiber width is set to 0.3, and the
layer height is set to 0.1 mm.
The morphology features of PLA and ABS materials are compared in
Fig. 3: The ABS is a non-crystalloid material, and thus will transform
slowly into liquid phase while being heated. In the FDM process, it has
low liquidity after heated, so it can keep cylindrical shape after solidi­
fication. Unlike ABS, the PLA material, which is a kind of crystal ma­
terial, will convert from solid phase to liquid phase directly without any
interphase, just like frozen water. Therefore, there will be no phase
change during the FDM printing process for PLA, which makes it more
susceptible to gravity factors and may be extruded to be flat. It happens
that the appearance of the air gap gives the space for material extrusion.
In this way, the gravity direction, fiber direction and other direction
(called loose direction) have quite different mechanical properties.
Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish between the three directions. It
is an orthotropic structure.
Air gap may occur in the printing plane during 3D printing with FDM
technology, and its effect on material properties cannot be ignored.
Motaparti et al. [17] used full-factorial statistical experiment to study
Fig. 1. Intersecting platform of FDM technology for Raise3D Pro2 Plus.
S. Dai et al.
Fig. 2. Shell-free model (all infill raster, printing a single layer requires only one pass) and full-shell model (no infill raster, single layer needs to print closed contours
by multiple prints) in Optical Microscope.
Fig. 3. (a) The PLA fracture surface microstructure image under SEM. And depth-width ratio of fiber is far less than a third; (b) ABS fracture surface microstructure
image by Ahn [20].
the effects of air gap on the flexure properties of the FDM specimens and
elaborated the effects of positive and negative air gap. On the other
hand, the printed structure may present different shapes in direction of
fiber, gravity deposition and loose direction, which is shown by Fig. 4.
Obviously, the material properties in these three directions are quite
different.
In this paper, the filling direction of the shell-free model is set to 90�
(in slice software), and the infill density is set as 99% (100% infill
density will make printing materials spill-over) in order to ensure the
samples with the good performance and less air gap can be printed.
Fig. 4. Three direction of FDM specimens (gravity deposition, loose direction
and fiber direction), as a global coordinate system.
3
Polymer Testing 87 (2020) 106520
2.2. Experiment setup
During the experiment, 65 test pieces are tested, and 130 data and
uniaxial stretching force data corresponding to the strain gages are
collected. The 3D geometric model of the printing samples is shown in
Fig. 5, which is determined according to ISO 527-2-2012 (International
Standard, Plastics Determination of Tensile Properties Part 2: test con­
ditions for molding and extrusion plastics).
In this work, three printing methods for the specimens are selected, i.
e. A, B, and C plane shown in Fig. 6, respectively. And for each method,
three printing angles are further adopted. Also, for Method C additional
angles, like 15, 30, 60, and 70� , are considered for experimental veri­
fication. So, the gravity direction, fiber direction, and loose direction are
distinguished. Obviously, the three directions of the samples can obtain
three different sets of elastic modulus and yield strength. These data for
elastic modulus and yield strength can be obtained directly from the
experimental data, while the shear modulus and Poisson’s ratio needed
to be further processed.
2.2.1. Poisson’s ratio
To measure the Poisson’s ratio, 35 BHI120-3BB-E-L30 strain gauges,
transverse and vertical bidirectional resistance strain gauges with three-
wire, are used in experimental measurements. It is worth noting that the
measured Poisson’s ratio values may be limited by some conditions.
From the symmetry of the flexibility matrix and the positive definiteness
of the matrix, the following relationship may be obtained:
S. Dai et al. Polymer Testing 87 (2020) 106520

Fig. 5. The geometric model of 3D printing specimens according to ISO 527-2-2012.

modulus must be in a limited range [30], which may be different from

the predictive value. Taking the 1 and 2 planes as examples, the range of
values may be expressed:
Ei E
� � Gij � � i � (4)
2 1 þ νij Ei
2 Ej þ νij

It can be shown by Eq. (4) that the shear modulus obtained by for­
mula (2) is the maximum value in the modulus range. The predicted
value calculated by the elastic modulus of the 0� and 90� samples (Ei and
Ej ) is the smallest, and the shear modulus calculated from the elastic
modulus of the 45-degree angle sample is necessarily in this range.
After all the data has been processed, this paper shows an orthotropic
constitutive model of FDM materials.

3. Mechanical modeling

Fig. 6. Three printing methods of A, B and C plane distinguished by global
coordinates (1, 2, 3), and in-plane samples are distinguished by different
printing angles using local coordinates (X, Y, Z).
As can be seen from the earlier analysis, PLA materials have quite
different performances in three directions (gravity deposition, loose
direction, and fiber direction). The main purpose of this paper is to
consider the direction of gravity deposition of FDM PLA material and
study its linear elastic orthotropic behaviors. Therefore, an orthotropic
model must be established.

� �12 =
νji νij � � Ej
¼ ; �νij � < ði; j ¼ 1; 2; 3; i 6¼ jÞ (1) 3.1. Orthotropic
Ei Ej Ei
As is well known, if the material has two mutually orthogonal elastic
where ν and E are Poisson’s ratio and elastic modulus, respectively.
symmetry planes, then it has nine independent elastic constants. This is
From the above formula, it is gotten that the Poisson’s ratio may be
the same as a material with three elastic symmetry planes. Therefore, a
very large. Generally, the Poisson’s ratio can be greater than 0.5 for
material with two elastic symmetry planes must have symmetry for the
composite materials.
third plane perpendicular to the two symmetry planes. Thus, the ma­
terial is seen as having three mutually orthogonal elastic symmetry
2.2.2. Shear modulus
planes, that is, there are three orthogonal elastic spindles. Its constitu­
The measurement of shear modulus is important for the FDM PLA
tive model is shown as follows:
materials. For most of the previous studies, the shear modulus is
commonly calculated from the elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio, ½ε1 ε2 ε3 γ23 γ 13 γ 12 �T ¼ ½S�½σ 1 σ 2 σ 3 τ23 τ13 τ12 �T (5)
which is also the approximate predicted value. In-plane shear modulus
Gij can be obtained: where ½S� is flexibility matrix, and the element of matrix ½S� is listed in
Appendix (A.1). In this paper, local and global coordinate systems are
Ei
Gij ¼ � (2) considered, and the stress relationship between the two coordinate
2 1 þ νij
systems can be expressed as follows [26]:
where i and j are the direction of load application and the normal di­ ½σ 10 σ20 σ 30 τ20 30 τ10 30 τ10 20 �T ¼ ½T� 1 ½σ1 σ2 σ3 τ23 τ13 τ12 �T (6)
rection, respectively. The shear modulus obtained from Eq. (2) may not
be accurate, because the difference in fiber direction and looseness di­ This is the coordinate transformation formulas of stress, where ½T� is
rection is significant. In addition, there is a method for predicting the coordinate transformation matrix, σi0 j0 and σ ij are stress component of
shear modulus as follows [22]: two coordinate, and determined by the direction cosine matrix ½C�. Due
� � 1 to the special printing method for layer by layer process procedure, the
4
Gij ¼ 45
1 1 2νij
þ (3) printing plane and the gravity deposition direction are always perpen­
Ex Ei Ej Ei dicular. And the transformation of any two cartesian coordinate systems
in space can be decomposed into three rotations around the local co­
where E45 x is the elastic modulus of 45 angle sample.
�
ordinate axis (the rotation angle usually called the attitude angle or
There are also some reasonable detection methods for Poisson’s Euler angle). In this work, the space position is obtained by rotations
ratio, as well as for the calculation of shear modulus. Typically, the shear around the Z, X and Z axis in order. The direction cosine matrix ½C� is
modulus is calculated from 45� angle specimens. Theoretically, the shear shown below:

4
S. Dai et al. Polymer Testing 87 (2020) 106520

� �� �� 0 �
½C� ¼ CZ CX CZ (7) surface, the material is referred to as a transversely isotropic material
[29]. Earlier researchers thought that the cross-section along the fiber
where ½CZ � and ½CX � are direction cosine matrix of rotation around the Z direction was an isotropic surface. The constitutive model of trans­
versely isotropic material is shown as follows:
and X axis, ½CZ � is direction cosine matrix of second rotation around Z
0

axis (rotation angles of Z, X and Z are θ, ψ and ϕ, respectively). The

0

matrix ½C� has been obtained and expressed in Appendix (A.2). Further,
the coordinate transformation matrix can be obtained by the direction
cosine formula in any direction of space, as shown follows:

2 3
ðC11 Þ2 ðC12 Þ2 ðC13 Þ2 2C11 C12 2C13 C12 2C11 C13
6 ðC21 Þ2 ðC22 Þ2 ðC23 Þ2 2C21 C22 2C23 C22 2C21 C23 7
6 7
6 ðC31 Þ2 ðC32 Þ2 ðC33 Þ2 2C13 C32 2C31 C32 2C31 C32 7
½T� ¼ 6
6 C11 C21
7 (8)
6 C12 C22 C13 C23 C11 C22 þ C12 C21 C12 C23 þ C22 C13 C23 C11 þ C13 C21 7
7
4C C C32 C22 C33 C23 C21 C32 þ C31 C22 C22 C33 þ C32 C23 C33 C21 þ C31 C23 5
31 21
C11 C31 C12 C32 C13 C33 C11 C32 þ C31 C12 C12 C33 þ C32 C13 C33 C11 þ C31 C13

where Cij is element of direction cosine matrix ½C�. To simplify the

comparison of the two theories, the stress coordinate transformation
matrix ½TZ � that rotates around the Z axis (ψ , ϕ ¼ 0) can be written
through the following expressions:

� �
½T z � ¼ cos2 ðθÞ sin2 ðθÞ sin2 ðθÞcos2 ðθÞ2cosðθÞsinðθÞ1 2cosðθÞsinðθÞcosðθÞsinðθÞ sinðθÞcosðθÞ cosðθÞsinðθÞcosðθÞsinðθÞcos2 ðθÞ sin2 ðθÞ (9)

2 3 2 3
ε1 σ1
The transformation matrix of the other orientation (e. g., ½T X � and 6 7
6 7 ε2 6 σ2 7
6 7
½T Y �) can also be obtained by the same method. Therefore, the formula 6 7 �
ε3
6 7 ¼ S11 S12 S13 S12 S22 S13 S13 S13 S22 S44 S44 2ðS11
�6 σ 3 7
S12 Þ 6 7 (11)
6 γ23 7 6 τ23 7
can obtain the transformation axis constitutive relations as shown 6 7 6 7
4 γ13 5 4 τ13 5
below:
γ12 τ12
2 3T 2 3T
σx εx
6 σy 7
6 7
6 εy 7 where Sij is the element of flexibility matrix.
�� � �T 6 7
6 σz 7 � � 6 7
~ T Z 1 6 εz 7 It is needed to conduct lots of experiments to determine the unique
6 7 ¼ T Z 1 ½Q� (10)
6 τyz 7
6 7
6 γ yz 7
6 7 five elastic constants. Previous researchers can also reduce the amount
4 τxz 5 4 γ xz 5 of work by predicting Shear modulus Eq. (3). In this way, the number of
τxy γxy elastic constants is reduced to four (three elastic modulus and Poisson’s
ratio). The three elastic modulus represent the elastic module of 0∘ , 45∘
where ½Q�~ is the general stiffness matrix, and it can be calculated by
and 90∘ , respectively.
flexibility matrix. In the new coordinate system, constitutive model can be expressed
To define the mechanical behavior of an orthotropic material, nine as:
elastic constants must be determined. 2 3 2 3
εx σx
4 εy 5 ¼ ½S�
~ 4 σy 5 (12)
3.2. Transversely isotropic γxy τxy

Based on orthotropic assumptions, if the material has an isotropic

5
S. Dai et al. Polymer Testing 87 (2020) 106520

where ½S�
~ is defined as:
1 1 1 1
2L ¼ 2A ¼ 2 þ 2
(13) s21 R2
0 0
~ ¼ ½T � 1 ½S�½T �
½S� Q P
1 1 1 1
where ½T � is the coordinate transformation matrix of transverse isotropic (16)
0
2K ¼ 2B ¼ 2 þ 2
s22 Q R P2
hypothesis model. As shown follows:
1 1 1 1
2N ¼ 2D ¼ 2 þ 2
s23 R P Q2

2 3
cos2 ðθÞ sin2 ðθÞ 2cosðθÞsinðθÞ
(14)
0
½T � ¼ 4 sin2 ðθÞcos2 ðθÞ 2cosðθÞsinðθÞ cosðθÞsinðθÞ 5
cosðθÞsinðθÞ cos2 ðθÞ sin2 ðθÞ

In this way, the orthotropic hypothesis model automatically de­ where Q, P, R are strength in three principal direction (fiber, gravity and
generates into a transverse isotropic hypothesis model, the trans­ loose direction), s1 ; ​ s2 ; ​ s3 are the in-plane shear strength of three plane.
formation matrix becomes simple. For yield strength, the two models Combining Eq. (16) and Eq. (15) yields the solution of orthotropic ma­
(orthotropic hypothesis and transverse isotropic hypothesis) are also terials yielding model.
quite different. � � � �
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
σ þ σ þ σ þ σ σ þ σ11 σ 33
3.3. Strength theory
11 22 33 11 22
Q2 P2 R2 Q2 P2 R2 Q2 R2 P2
� �
1 1 1 1 1 1
þ σ22 σ33 þ 2 τ223 þ 2 τ213 þ 2 τ212 ¼ 1
In this work, the yielding model of PLA specimens is described by S. R2 P2 Q2 s1 s2 s3
W. Tsai yield criterion [22], as: (17)
ðA þ DÞσ211 þ ðB þ DÞσ222 þ ðB þ AÞσ 233 2Aσ11 σ 22 However, under the uniaxial tensile load σxx ​ ðσyy ¼ σ zz ¼ 0Þ, the
2Bσ11 σ 33 2Dσ22 σ 33 þ 2Lτ223 þ 2K τ213 þ 2N τ212 ¼ 1 (15) stress components can be obtained by Eq. (6), as follows:

σ11 ¼ σ xx ðC11 Þ2
where the coefficients (A, B, D, L, K, and N) of the stress components are
σ22 ¼ σ xx ðC21 Þ2
Hill’s strength parameters [31]. Tsai uses the breaking strengths as Q; ​ P; σ33 ¼ σ xx ðC31 Þ2
​ R; ​ s1 ; ​ s2 ; ​ s3 , commonly used in composites to represent strength (18)
τ12 ¼ σxx C11 C21
parameters, as shown below: τ23 ¼ σxx C31 C21
τ31 ¼ σxx C11 C31
At plane stress state (σ33 ¼ τ13 ¼ τ23 ¼ 0⇒P ¼ R), there is a very
simple conversion relationship between stress components σ ij and axial
stress σxx , so yield criterion can be shown as follows:
� �2
cos4 θ sin4 θ sin2 θcos2 θ cos θ sin θ 1
þ 2 þ ¼ 2 (19)
Q 2 P Q 2 s3 σxx
This is the yield criterion of transversely isotropic under the uniaxial
tensile load. The yield criterion of orthotropy and transversely isotropy
is different. The main difference lies in the fact that the transversely
isotropic yield model ignores the influence of the strength R, but Q, P, R
are mutually coupled in the orthotropic yield model. The related results
will be discussed in section 4.

Table 1
Average measurement data of size, elastic modulus, Poisson’s ratio and yield
strength for three planes with three angles (0� , 45� , 90� ).
symbol Toolpath Width Thickness E v T
(mm) (mm) (Mpa) (Mpa)

A A-0� 10.10 4.04 1275 0.292 12.78

A-45� 10.18 4.02 1731.6 15.5
A-90� 9.76 4.00 2973.4 0.627 45.5
B B-0� 10.19 4.12 2998.2 0.236 12.68
B-45� 9.82 4.03 1272.8 12.7
B-90� 9.64 3.88 1287.5 0.453 26.4
C C-0� 10.6 3.96 2904.2 0.335 55.68
C-45� 9.63 4.02 2689.2 41.7
Fig. 7. The tensile test of PLA materials on CMT 5105 test machine with the
C-90� 9.83 3.97 2597.5 0.299 34.5
bidirectional resistance strain gauge.

6
S. Dai et al. Polymer Testing 87 (2020) 106520

Table 2
Engineering constants for specimens and calculated value of shear modulus.
E1 2904.216Mpa ν12 0.292 ν21 2.627 G12 723.34 Mpa
E2 1275.007Mpa ν23 0.453 ν32 0.236 G23 377.65 Mpa
E3 2597.512Mpa ν13 0.299 ν31 0.335 G31 1010.0 Mpa

Fig. 10. Comparison of Elastic modulus of orthotropic hypothesis model at

different angles in three printing planes.

Fig. 8. Elastic modulus comparison of 0� and 90� specimens in three planes (A,
B and C).

Fig. 11. Comparison of yield strength of two hypothesis model (orthotropic

hypothesis and transverse isotropic hypothesis) in C plane and compare theo­
retical value with experiment result.

Fig. 9. Comparison of two elastic modulus of two model (orthotropic hy­
pothesis and transverse isotropic hypothesis) in C plane. Also showed com­
parison of E calculated by different shear modulus.
4. Results and discussions
In the experiments, the CMT5105 test machine is used for the tensile
test, and the bidirectional resistance strain gauge is used to measure the
deformation (shown in Fig. 7.). The specimens are tested and destroyed,
the deformation and load data are simultaneously read, and calculated
by two computers. Each type of sample size was measured by an elec­
tronic Vernier caliper before the experiment for later data calculation.
The statistical results of the experiment are organized in Table 1.
Each sample size was measured. Taking the average value of each angle,
the size error of the A plane (see Fig. 6) is the smallest, which is not much
different from the design value. The size error of the B plane and the C
plane is relatively large, especially for the sample with the B-0 angle and
the sample with the C-0 angle. The thickness of the B-0 sample and the
width of the C-0 sample are both larger than the design value. However,
the size of the B-90 sample is small overall, so the size error of the B-
plane print sample is the most difficult to control.
For the Poisson’s ratio, the difference between the fiber direction and
the loose direction performance is the largest, so the transverse and
longitudinal deformation ratios (i.e. v12 ) of the A-0 and A-90 samples are
very different. The deformation ratios of C-0 and C-90 samples are
similar, because the difference between fiber direction and deposition
direction performance is small.
When considering a transverse isotropic material, this paper only
uses C-plane data, that is, E1 , E3 and ν13 (see in Table 2). The all elastic
modulus data are shown in Fig. 8. Obviously, the A-0 and A-90 data are
close, the B-90 and C-90 data are similar, and the A-90 and C-0 data are
similar. The experimental values between the two printing methods in
the same main direction are close.
Comparison of transverse isotropic elasticity modulus prediction and

7
S. Dai et al. Polymer Testing 87 (2020) 106520

Fig. 14. Five specimens stress-strain curve of PLA materials by CMT 5105
Fig. 12. Comparison of yield strength for orthotropic hypothesis model in three
test machine.
printing planes.

Table 3
Five groups local rotation angles (i.e. Euler angle or attitude angle) of five
specimens. Those angles are rotated around the Z, X and Z axis.
0

Sample number θ ψ ϕ

1 45� 90� 45�

2 30� 90� 60�
3 45� 45� 90�
4 45� 60� 90�
5 30� 45� 45�

Fig. 15. Elastic modulus of twenty-five PLA specimens and compared with
theoretical value.

strength data are also close, and the error is less than one thousandth.
Fig. 13. Samples No.4 of random printing position obtained from different
rotation angles (attitude angle), and designed support to ensure print quality.
Through the comparison of two models of elastic modulus and yield
strength, the rationality of orthotropy is also explained, and is
completely workable and full for PLA material performance prediction.
orthotropic young’s modulus prediction is shown in Fig. 9. It shows the
Orthotropic model is more suitable for FDM materials than for trans­
theoretical diagram of three plane for different elasticity modulus with
verse isotropic theory because it considers the influence of the loose
angle change. It is clear that 45� sample data is the most discrete, and the
direction.
predicted values of the 75� and 30� samples are smaller than the exper­
The yield strength curves of the three printing surfaces are shown in
imental data. The curves of the transverse isotropy and orthotropy are
Fig. 12. Like the elastic modulus curve, three curves corresponding to
very close, almost coincident. This shows that the orthotropic model
the three planes, and for transversely isotropic, there is no way to predict
degenerates into a transverse isotropic problem in plane state.
so much data. Obviously, the transverse isotropy is not enough to predict
The theoretical curve of the Young’s modulus in three print planes is
PLA mechanical properties. And The mechanical properties of the
shown in Fig. 10. B plane is quite different from the other printing plane.
45� angle specimen can reflect some problems that C plane specimen has
As can be seen from the B plane modulus of elasticity curve, there are
the best properties, and B-plane printing specimen has worst perfor­
underestimated values when the angle is between 45� and 90� . This is
mance. This conclusion is like earlier predictions of elastic modulus and
because the 45� experimental value is as low as 90� , resulting in the
yield strength. So, B plane printing is the method that should be avoided.
concave surface of the cosine curve to be lower than the normal value. It
The transverse isotropic hypothesis model can only be used for in-
also shows that C printing plane has better property than A and B plane.
plane prediction, but the orthotropic hypothesis model can be used for
As shown in Fig. 11, orthotropy and transverse isotropy yield
arbitrary positions of three-dimensional.

8
S. Dai et al.
Fig. 16. Yield strength of twenty-five PLA specimens and compared with
theoretical value.
To verify the theoretical method, this paper selected any five groups
of local rotation angles (Also called Euler angle or attitude angle) to
obtain five samples position. Rotation angles of five samples are shown
in Table 3. Since the rotation angle is randomly set, the positions of the
five samples are irregular (such as sample No.4 as shown in Fig. 13). Five
sets of specimens, five in each group, a total of twenty-five PLA samples,
using the same experiment as before. The obtained elastic modulus and
yield strength are compared with theoretical calculations.
As shown in Fig. 14, the difference in stress-strain curves of the five
specimens is obvious. The value of samples 1, 2 and 3 are close to each
other, but No.4 is highest of those data, No.5 is the minimum value of
those data.
The experimental values of the elastic modulus of twenty-five PLA
samples are compared with the theoretical values are shown in Fig. 15,
their trend of curve fits better. Except for the specimen No.1, the theo­
retical calculation results are smaller than average values of experiment.
Especially for samples No. 3 and No. 5, the theoretical value is close to
the minimum value of the experiment. This is estimated to be caused by
the manufacturing process.
The comparison of yield strength for theoretical values and experi­
mental values are shown in Fig. 16. The theoretical predicted value
should be slightly higher than the average of the experimental values.
Explain that the irregular printing method has high requirements on the
manufacturing process, and it is prone to defects and damage.
From the results, the theoretical prediction trend is consistent with
the experimental values, showing that the prediction method of me­
chanical properties in any direction of orthotropy applies to FDM
printing technology. For the phenomenon that the prediction result is
small or large, it will be studied in the future.
5. Conclusions
In this paper, the mechanical properties and morphological features
of PLA produced by the FDM method are investigated. The influences of
the mechanical properties of the material are considered in the gravity
deposition, loose, and fiber directions. An orthotropic constitutive
model for any direction is established and a comparative analysis of the
9
Polymer Testing 87 (2020) 106520
orthotropic hypothesis model and the transverse isotropic hypothesis
model is conducted. This paper also recommended the fiber and gravity
printing plane (C plane) that is most suitable for PLA materials. The
following conclusions are drawn from this study.
� Firstly, it is experimentally proven that the study of orthotropy for
PLA materials is very necessary, and that the gravity deposition and
loose directions must be distinguished. If the loose and gravity di­
rections have the same performance, the orthotropic model auto­
matically degenerates into a transverse isotropic problem.
� Secondly, the prediction of the elastic modulus with the orthotropic
hypothesis model is close to the experimental results and more
complete than the transverse isotropic hypothesis model, indicating
the reliability and accuracy of the orthotropic hypothesis model. The
specimen properties are better in the C plane and worse in the loose-
gravity plane (B plane).
� Thirdly, the coupling effects of the strengths of the three main di­
rections are considered. In the comparison of yield strength, the re­
sults for the fiber direction specimens are clearly the best. The
orthotropic hypothesis model is more suitable for performance pre­
diction in any position than the transverse isotropic hypothesis
model.
� Fourthly, the predicted value is consistent with the experimental
value trend. Experimental verification at any position showed that
the theoretical value is slightly larger than the experimental value
because irregular print positions are more prone to defects and
higher process precision is required (shown in Fig. 13).
� Finally, it is strongly recommended to select the orthotropic hy­
pothesis model to process the PLA material. Of course, this model is
also applicable to other FDM printed materials. The present work
contributes to both theoretical developments and applications of 3D
printing.
Data availability statement
All the raw data required to reproduce these findings have already
shown in this paper. Meanwhile, authors declare that their research
content and experimental data are true and reliable.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Shi Dai: Methodology, Validation, Investigation, Writing - original
draft. Zi Chen Deng: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing - review
& editing, Funding acquisition. Ya Jun Yu: Conceptualization, Investi­
gation, Writing - review & editing. Kai Zhang: Conceptualization,
Investigation. Shu Heng Wang: Data curation, Investigation. Juan Ye:
Data curation, Investigation.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by National Key R&D Program of China
(2017YFB1102801), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
11802242), and the Graduate Innovation Team Foundation of North­
western Polytechnical University.
S. Dai et al. Polymer Testing 87 (2020) 106520

Appendix

2 3
1 ν21 ν31 ν12 ν13
6E 7
6 1 E1 E1 E2 E3 7
6 7
6 1 ν32 ν13 ν13 7
6 7
2 3 6 6 E2 E2 E3 E3 72 3
7 σ
ε1 6 7 1
6 ε2 7 6 ν23 1 76 7
76 σ2 7
6 7 6
6 ε3 7 6 E3 E3 76 7
76 σ3 7
6 7¼6 (A.1)
6 γ23 7 6 76 7
76 τ23 7
6 7 6 1
4 γ13 5 6
6
74 5
7 τ13
6 G23 7
γ12 6 7 τ12
6 1 7
6 7
6 G13 7
6 7
6 7
4 1 5
G12
2 32 32 3
cosðθÞ sinðθÞ 1 cosðϕÞ sinðϕÞ
Z 6 X Z0 76 76 7
C ¼ C C C ¼ 4 sinðθÞ cosðθÞ 54 cosðψ Þ sinðψ Þ 54 sinðϕÞ cosðϕÞ 5
1 sinðψ Þ cosðψ Þ 1
2 3 (A.2)
cosðθÞcosðϕÞ sinðθÞcosðψ ÞsinðϕÞ cosðθÞsinðϕÞ sinðθÞcosðψ ÞcosðϕÞ sinðθÞsinðψ Þ
6 7
¼ 4 sinðθÞcosðϕÞ þ cosðθÞcosðψ ÞsinðϕÞ cosðθÞcosðψ ÞsinðϕÞ sinðθÞcosðϕÞ cosðθÞsinðψ Þ 5
sinðψ ÞsinðϕÞ sinðψ ÞcosðϕÞ cosðθÞ

References [16] A.C. Abbott, G.P. Tandon, R.L. Bradford, et al., Process-structure-property effects
on ABS bond strength in fused filament fabrication, Addit. Manuf. 19 (2018)
29–38, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2017.11.002.
[1] P. Parandoush, D. Lin, A review on additive manufacturing of polymer-fiber
[17] K.P. Motaparti, G. Taylor, C.L. Ming, K. Chandrashekhara, J. Castle, M. Matlack,
composites, Compos. Struct. 182 (2017) 36–53, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
Experimental investigation of effects of build parameters on flexural properties in
compstruct.2017.08.088.
fused deposition modelling parts, Virtual Phys. Prototyp. 12 (2017) 1–14, https://
[2] A.S.J. Suiker, Mechanical performance of wall structures in 3D printing processes:
doi.org/10.1080/17452759.2017.1314117.
theory, design tools and experiments, Int. J. Mech. Sci. 137 (2013) 145–170,
[18] O.S. Es-Said, J. Foyos, R. Noorani, M. Mendelson, R. Marloth, B.A. Pregger, Effect
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2018.01.010.
of layer orientation on mechanical properties of rapid prototyped samples, Adv.
[3] X. Wang, M. Jiang, Z. Zhou, J. Gou, D. Hui, 3D printing of polymer matrix
Manuf. Process 15 (1) (2000) 107–122, https://doi.org/10.1080/
composites: a review and prospective, Compos. B Eng. 110 (2016) 442–458,
10426910008912976.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2016.11.034.
[19] H. Mei, Z. Ali, et al., Influence of mixed isotropic fiber angles and hot press on the
[4] S.H. Wang, Y.B. Ma, Z.C. Deng, K. Zhang, S. Dai, Implementation of an elastoplastic
mechanical properties of 3D printed composites, Addit. Manuf. 27 (2019)
constitutive model for 3D-printed materials fabricated by stereolithography, Addit.
150–158, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2019.03.008.
Manuf. 33 (2020), 101104, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2020.101104.
[20] S.H. Ahn, M. Montero, O. Dan, S. Roundy, P.K. Wright, Anisotropic material
[5] Y.J. Yu, Z.C. Deng, New insights on microscale transient thermoelastic responses
properties of fused deposition modeling ABS, Rapid Prototyp. J. 8 (4) (2013)
for metals with electron-lattice coupling mechanism, Eur. J. 80 (2020), 103887,
248–257, https://doi.org/10.1108/13552540210441166.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euromechsol.2019.103887.
[21] Tianyun Yao, Zichen Deng, A method to predict the ultimate tensile strength of 3D
[6] K. Zhang, P. Zhao, F. Hong, Y. Yu, Z. Deng, On the directional wave propagation in
printing polylactic acid (PLA) materials with different printing orientations,
the tetrachiral and hexachiral lattices with local resonators, Smart Mater. Struct. 29
Compos. B Eng. (2019) 163, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2019.01.025.
(1) (2020), 015017, https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-665X/ab5764.
[22] V.D. Azzi, S.W. Tsai, Anisotropic strength of composites, Exp. Mech. 5 (9) (1965)
[7] S. Johannes S, Kumar Multiscale. characterization and constitutive parameters
283–288, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02326292.
identification of polyamide (PA12) processed via selective laser sintering, Polym.
[23] G. Alaimo, S. Marconi, Influence of meso-structure and chemical composition on
Test. 86 (2020), 106357, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2020.106357.
FDM 3D-printed parts, Compos. B Eng. 113 (2017) 371–380, https://doi.org/
[8] M. Trivedi, J. Jee, S. Silva, et al., Additive manufacturing of pharmaceuticals for
10.1016/j.compositesb.2017.01.019.
precision medicine applications: a review of the promises and perils in
[24] R. Zou, Y. Xia, S. Liu, et al., Isotropic and anisotropic elasticity and yielding of 3d
implementation, Addit. Manuf. 23 (2018) 319–328, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
printed material, Compos. B Eng. 99 (2016) 506–513, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
addma.2018.07.004.
compositesb.2016.06.009.
[9] D. Herzog, Additive manufacturing of metals, Acta Mater. 117 (2016) 371–392,
[25] Yang Xia, Ke Xu, Guojun Zheng, et al., Investigation on the elasto-plastic
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2016.07.019.
constitutive equation of parts fabricated by fused deposition modeling, Rapid
[10] K. Zhang, M. Ge, C. Zhao, Z. Deng, X. Xu, Free vibration of nonlocal Timoshenko
Prototyp. J. 25 (3) (2019) 592–601, https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-06-2018-0147.
beams made of functionally graded materials by Symplectic method [J], Compos. B
[26] S. Lekhnitskii, Theory of Elasticity of an Anisotropic Elastic Body, 1963, https://
Eng. 156 (2019) 174–184, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2018.08.051.
doi.org/10.1137/1009023.
[11] A. Garg, A. Bhattacharya, An insight to the failure of FDM parts under tensile
[27] W.V. Liebig, et al., Frequency domain modelling of transversely isotropic
loading: finite element analysis and experimental study, Int. J. Mech. Sci. 120
viscoelastic fibre-reinforced plastics, Compos. Sci. Technol. 180 (2019) 101–110,
(2017) 225–236, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2016.11.032.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2019.04.019.
[12] S. Belhabib, S. Guessasma, Compression performance of hollow structures: from
[28] Miquel Domingo-Espin, et al., Mechanical property characterization and
topology optimisation to design 3D printing, Int. J. Mech. Sci. 133 (2017) 728–739,
simulation of fused deposition modeling Polycarbonate parts, Mater. Des. 83
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2017.09.033.
(2015) 670–677, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2015.06.074.
[13] N. Mohan, P. Senthil, S. Vinodh, N. Jayanth, A review on composite materials and
[29] S.H. Wang, Y.B. Ma, Z.C. Deng, S. Zhang, J.X. Cai, Effects of fused deposition
process parameters optimisation for the fused deposition modelling process,
modeling process parameters on tensile, dynamic mechanical properties of 3D
Virtual Phys. Prototyp. 12 (1) (2017) 47–59, https://doi.org/10.1080/
printed polylactic acid materials, Polym. Test. 86 (2020), 106483, https://doi.org/
17452759.2016.1274490.
10.1016/j.polymertesting.2020.106483.
[14] J.F.T. Rodrìguez, P. James, J.E. Renaud, Mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile
[30] P.K. Mallick, Fiber-reinforced Composites: Materials, Manufacturing, and Design,
butadiene styrene (abs) fused deposition materials. experimental investigation,
Crc Press, 2007, https://doi.org/10.1201/9781420005981.
Rapid Prototyp. J. 7 (3) (2001) 148–158, https://doi.org/10.1108/
[31] & R. Hill, A theory of the yielding and plastic flow of anisotropic metals,
13552540110395547.
Proceedings 193 (1033) (1948) 281–297, https://doi.org/10.1098/
[15] J.F.T. Rodrìguez, P. James, J.E. Renaud, Mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile
rspa.1948.0045.
butadiene styrene fused deposition materials modeling, Rapid Prototyp. J. 9 (4)
(2003) 219–230, https://doi.org/10.1108/13552540310489604.

10