Fabrication of the Porous Structures with Gradient Thickness of the Struts, by using FDM 3D Printing with Dynamically Changed Parameters during the Printing
This paper deals with 3D printing of porous, functionally graded structures by using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). We investigated the printing parameters that can allow printing with gradual infill and challenges associated with this method of printing. We fabricated polylactic acid (PLA) porous structures with variable infill by using FDM 3D printing. Set of the printing parameters for variable infill were investigated: gradient infill and gradient speed and the most successful case is shown. The significant influence of the printer hardware elements was noticed, among which, the worn gear tooth and inadequate extruder feed model can result in inability to print functionally graded lines.