Investigating the Mechanical Properties of Polymer Samples from Different Additive Manufacturing Processes Using Ultrasonic Phase Spectroscopy

Additive manufacturing processes have recently been used more frequently since they offer high design freedom and easy individualization of components. The processes have been optimized to improve mechanical performance of the manufactured parts. Nevertheless, properties of components made by means of injection molding could not be reached yet. In the study at hand, ultrasonic phase spectroscopy (UPS) is used to compare the elastic properties of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene specimens manufactured by injection molding, by fused filament fabrication, and the Arburg plastic freeforming process. UPS allows a nondestructive and prompt determination of the elastic modulus and allows evaluation of the mechanical properties in every direction in space. In the end, results of UPS are compared with properties derived by uniaxial tensile tests to validate UPS as a test method for the determination of the mechanical properties of polymers. Regardless of the manufacturing process, an approximately linear dependence of the elastic moduli on the density can be determined. Furthermore, the quasistatic properties of the injection molded samples consistently exhibit the mechanical properties of the other samples by at least 10%.