Investigations on FSW of nylon micro-particle enhanced 3D printed parts applied to a Clark-Y UAV wing

Abstract 3D printing, considered as a revolutionary manufacturing process of industry 4.0 has a fundamental hurdle of the maximum physical size of parts it can print. Sectioning the CAD model and later joining/welding them can be a meaningful solution to circumvent this issue. This article explores the joining of micro-particle enhanced dissimilar 3D-printed parts fabricated from generally preferred materials (PLA/ABS) by the Friction Stir Welding (FSW) technique. The aim being 2-fold; to circumvent the bed size limitation of the commercially offered 3D printers and secondly to analyze the effect of Nylon micro-particles on the joint strength of FSWed parts. Critical parameters related to the process were identified, while their significance and mutual interactions were established and validated using DOE/ANOVA statistical tools. The reliable findings showed that adding Nylon micro-particles resulted in the joint strength reaching up to 76% in the case of PLA while it had a detrimental effect on ABS. Further, statistical results revealed that the material combination played a significant role (with a contributing factor of 95.78%) affecting the joint’s strength and its geometric properties (flatness). The revamped results when applied to assemble a Clark-Y wing having a span of 400 mm, displayed good strength as well as a metrological acceptable flatness value of 0.68 µ/m. With the proposed technique, it is anticipated that joining/welding techniques will become a more accepted method in the future, increasing the acceptability of smaller 3D printers.