Mechanical Properties of 3D Printed Surface Under Influence of Chemical Post Processing
A. R. Zolkaply1, M. R. Alkahari2, F. R. Ramli3, F. R. Ramli4, N. S. Hamdan5

1A. R. Zolkaply, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya, Durian, Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia.
2M. R. Alkahari, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya, Durian, Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia.
3F. R. Ramli, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya, Durian, Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia.
4F. R. Ramli, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya,  Durian, Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia.
5N. S. Hamdan, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya, Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia.
Manuscript received on 25 May 2019 | Revised Manuscript received on 12 June 2019 | Manuscript Published on 26 June 2019 | PP: 114-118 | Volume-8 Issue-1S5 June 2019 | Retrieval Number: A000210681S519/2019©BEIESP
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Abstract: The emergence of additive manufacturing has introduced fused deposition modeling (FDM) as one of the popular technology in fabricating desired prototypes. This is due to its capability to fabricate 3D part effectively, economically and more user-friendly. However, the yield of the product was poor in surface finish and it produced staircase effect resulted from the layer by layer deposition process. The staircase issue on the fabricated part impaired the finishing of the product due to the deposition process which contributed to rough surface finish. The chemical treatment is one of the methods that employed widely to treat 3D printed part and improve its surface topography. Hence, this research is focusing on the chemical post-processing treatment for surface finish of ABS printed part and the influences of the chemical towards ABS strength and porosity. The methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) was used as a solvent to the ABS to dissolve the thermoplastic to form a new structure of printed part in order to reduce the surface roughness. The amount of the MEK was applied with a designed applicator at different volume. It was discovered that MEK treatment can be used to produce better surface finish. The roughness was reduced as much as 94.2% with the use of the designed applicator. While the strength of printed ABS was strengthened as much as 8.4% and the porosity was improved a little about 10.2%.
Keywords: Additive Manufacturing (AM); Chemical Post Processing; Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK); Surface Roughness.
Scope of the Article: Mechanical Maintenance