Improvement of flexural strength and compressive strength by heat treatment of PLA filament for 3D-printing

Poly-lactic Acid (PLA) is an environmentally friendly material with better stability in heat shrinkage than Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), such as warping in 3D printing. This study focused on the enhancement of the mechanical properties of PLA filament for 3D printers through different heat treatment temperature and heat exposure time of PLA samples. The results showed that the highest flexural strength was recorded in the PLA sample that went through heat treatment at [Formula: see text] and heat exposure time of 300 s. And it tended to decrease with temperature and time after this point. But it has higher flexural strength than neat PLA. The compressive strength showed the highest compressive strength through heat treatment at [Formula: see text] for 600 s. Because compressive strength has no threshold limit temperature in experimental temperature, compressive strength showed a tendency to increase with increasing heat exposure time and high temperature at same condition. This result showed that the heat treatment process affects the flexural strength and compressive strength and can be improved upon using appropriate heat treatment conditions.