Investigation of Fused Filament Fabrication-Based Manufacturing of ABS-Al Composite Structures: Prediction by Machine Learning and Optimization

Additive manufacturing (AM) or fused filament fabrication (FFF) are used to fabricate innovative virgin/composite structures using thermoplastic polymers. FFF is one of the most fast-growing manufacturing processes of final products using polymer-based composites. This research uses acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) thermoplastic polymer as a matrix material to fabricate final-use products with aluminum (Al) metal spray reinforcement. To investigate the effect of Al spray reinforcement, three main input parameters; infill pattern (Triangle, line, and cubic), infill density (60, 80, and 100%), and the number of sprayed layers (2, 3, and 4) have been selected, and fractured strength have been studied using Taguchi L-9 orthogonal array. In addition, single objective, multi-objective, and prediction with machine learning (ML) have been performed on the samples’ flexural properties to select the best-optimized setting. Results of the study were supported with x-ray diffraction (XRD), optical and scanning electron microscope (SEM) fracture analysis.