Interaction of printing speed and temperature settings on the build plate adhesion of 3D-printed polylactide acid parts

Fused filament fabrication, also called material extrusion, is a widespread used 3D-printing process which allows to manufacture parts with a high freedom of design at low costs. A common issue is the deformation of parts during the printing process caused by thermal stress and an insufficient adhesion. Despite the widespread usage of material extrusion only few publications dealing with this topic and it is yet nearly unknown, which process parameters have an influence onto the part adhesion nor how they interact among each other. This publication investigates how the adhesion between part and build surface is affected by the most important process parameters. The influence of the first layer’s height, printing speed, nozzle temperature, and build surface temperature was determined for three different build surface materials. Furthermore, the interactions of these parameters among each other were investigated. It was found that the first layer’s height has a strong influence onto the adhesion, which can be increased up to 0.56 MPa. Also, a strong dependence of printing speed, build surface temperature and nozzle temperature among each other was found.