Autors: Nikolov, N. D., Schwicker M.
Title: THREE APPROACHES TO PLA FILAMENT MECHANICAL PROPERTIES DETERMINATION USING TENSILE TESTING
Keywords: mechanical properties, PLA filament, polylactide, tensile strength, tensile test, Young's modulus

Abstract: This study investigates the tensile mechanical properties of the Polylactic acid (PLA) polymer. For this purpose, the stress-strain curves, the tensile strength, and the Young's modulus were obtained experimentally. A total of 93 tests were conducted, testing specimens with a diameter of 1.75 and 2.85 mm of raw PLA filament and standard injection-moulded specimens of the same material. The results were compared with previously tested specimens of the same material, printed using the Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) technology. Three testing approaches are proposed, which include the use of three different testing machines (single-column MFC T-500 machine, MESSPHYSIK micro tensile testing machine, and ZWICK 1475 universal testing machine), and three different ways of measuring longitudinal deformation (total specimen elongation measurement, local elongation measurement with a laser-speckle extensometer, and local elongation measurement with a contact extensometer). The influence of the testing machines, nominal length, clamp material, cross-sectional diameter, filament age, and production technology were examined during the tests. The tensile strength and the Young's modulus of the raw filament and the injection-moulded PLA were found to be similar to these of the best FDM-printed samples. The clamp material, filament age, and filament diameter do not significantly affect the results obtained. Increasing the nominal length positively impacts the results where an extensometer is not used.

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Issue

Engineering for Rural Development, vol. 24, pp. 165-172, 2025, Latvia, https://doi.org/10.22616/ERDev.2025.24.TF030

Вид: публикация в международен форум, публикация в издание с импакт фактор, публикация в реферирано издание, индексирана в Scopus