Non-Linear Hyperelastic Model Analysis and Numerical Validation of 3D Printed PLA plus Material Incorporating Various Infill Densities

Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing technology creates a tangible object by adding successive layers of materials. Nowadays, 3D printing is used for developing both metal and non-metal products. In the advancement of 3D printing technology, material specimen design, modification, and testing become very simple, especially for non-metal materials, such as hyperelastic, thermoplastic, or rubber-like materials. However, proper material modeling and validation are required for the analysis of these types of materials. In this study, 3D printed poly lactic acid (PLA+) material behavior is analyzed numerically for validation in the counterpart of experimental analysis to evaluate their behavior in both cases. The specimen was designed in SolidWorks by following ASTM D638 dimension standards with proper infill densities and raster angle or infill orientation angle. These infill layer densities and angles of orientation play an important role in the mechanical behavior of the specimen. This paper aims to present a numerical validation of five infill densities (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100%) for a +/- 45-degree infill angle orientation by incorporating a nonlinear hyperelastic model. Results indicate that infill densities affect the mechanical behavior of PLA+ material. The result also suggested that neo-Hookean and Mooney-Rivlin are the best-fitted hyperelastic material models for these five separate linear infill densities. However, neo-Hookean is easier to analyze, as it has only one parameter and a new equation is developed in this study for determining the parameter for different infill densities.