Experimental Analysis of Impact Resistance of 3D Polycarbonate and Nylon + Carbon Fiber Specimens

This paper studies the influence of factors such as printing speed, layer height, infill density, and type of material, over the mechanical properties of 3D printed pieces. A statistical analysis was conducted in order to determine the effect of each factor over the impact resistance of the 3D printed specimens. Samples of polycarbonate (PC) and nylon + carbon fiber (PA + CF) were tested using conventional Charpy equipment. Initially, the design of experiments was used to evaluate the significance of the studied factors, then, a sequential design was carried out to determine the process parameters that result in the maximum absorption of energy on the material. Finally, the results showed that during the selection phase, the type of material was the factor with the most significant effect, with a 99.5% of importance which is affected by the layer height and infill density. It was found that the absorbed energy was higher for the material PA + CF, according to the statistical results obtained.