Simulation of 3d-printed plastic strength

[ThingWizard]

Hi!

I made some components that are to be printed in PET-G plastic (FFF/FDM) . I checked some load simulations using PET-plastic as material. I was just curious if/how it would be possible to simulate a 3D printed material, say adding the sliced stl-file and analyzing strength based on this, as infill/wall type/thickness and other factors affect the strength of the final part, and are affected by layer bonding. It's probably quite complex but it would be cool if fusion360 could do it...

[mmilleratticus · Accepted solution]

So...there's a lot working against you for an accurate sim.  Two primary issues are the fabrication method which you eluded to.  The laminar properties of FDM and then add on to that the vicso-elastic behavior of plastics.  Plastics are not like "traditional" materials, such as metals.  Because of these two properties of the item you want to sim, you have to understand the loading extremely well and set-up the sim to reflect a specific loading scenario.  Also the behavior of the part outside of that scenario will be entirely different.

The short answer is yes, with lots of conditions regarding the set-up and the results.

[ThingWizard]

Thank you for the answer! Yes, my guess was that it would be quite a complex thing to simulate. Maybe the simulation would not be as accurate as other materials, but at least show some major stress points depending on how the print is sliced. But-yeah- not an easy thing.