Improvement of Surface Finish by Multiple Piezoelectric Transducers in Fused Deposition Modelling

Additive Manufacturing (AM) which embrace as a new range technology of creating and producing end user parts in term of adding material layer by layer to create solid object from 3D CAD data. AM in particular Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) used (ABS) thermoplastic have shown the most popular among the industry as its technology can print complex geometrical part without human intervention and tools. However, FDM fierce enemy whereas the common problem of stair-stepping, which means that seam lines appear between layers and excess material if often left as a residue, cause to lead rough surface and poor quality finish. It is often desirable for an AM model to have aesthetic or functional importance. Hence, reducing layer thickness will generally improve surface roughness but will add to the build time for the model. As an interest investigate the use of ultrasonic for FDM, this experiment will focus on the effect of applying multiple piezoelectric transducer for FDM printer. This paper aims to explore the effect use of multiple piezoelectric with different frequency applied (27, 40, 50 kHz) to improve surface finish quality part printed by FDM whereby an ultrasonic transducer firmly attached onto the platform. Optical microscope with the aid of pro VIS software version 2.90 was used to measure the quality of surface roughness of samples printed with vibration in the above stated frequency. Hence, it was found that 1 piezo with 50 kHz frequency applied to the FDM machine achieved improve surface finish due to less layer thickness defect and finer layer thickness produce.