Effects of accelerated aging on the appearance and mechanical performance of materials jetting products

Abstract

As a result of the associated costs and environmental impacts, Material Jetting (MJT) plays a limited role in Additive Manufacturing (AM). Research on the durability and long-term performance of MJT objects by evaluating their appearance is lacking. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of aging on the color and the physico-mechanical performance of MJT parts. This work examines the influence of production settings on objects subjected to a total of 103days of accelerated aging. The studied Printing Primary Parameters (PPPs) were resin color, build platform position (swath), and finishing configurations. The results indicated the response of the studied PPP according to the aging time was non-linear due to the dynamic appearance response to aging time. VeroBlackPlus and VeroCyan photo resins demonstrated superior color fidelity through aging by a color difference of less than 10. Based on Taguchi and Redundancy Analysis (RDA), mechanical and physicochemical properties varied the most after 58 days of accelerated aging, with elastic modulus retention up to 149.21% and Glass Transition temperature (Tg) up to 116.6%. This study demonstrates the importance of considering long-term performance during the design process of AM products, depending on the intended application and service conditions.