Comparison of mechanical properties of prints obtained from PLA, ABS, PETG filaments and recycled filaments (PLA, ABS, PETG)

Printing processes in 3D printers, filament materials provide printing while also increasing the cost according to the print taken. In particular, support parts that are cleaned and separated from the part after supported printing processes or faulty parts are considered waste. When a product is produced in a 3D printer, the part is considered as scrap because it cannot be reused. For this reason, it creates waste and the parts formed after faulty production cause waste and environmental pollution for the expensive filament material. Waste management during production is to put it back into the raw material chain and evaluate it. Recycling of waste filaments can be carried out with various methods and they can be used as raw materials again. In this way, both the environment is protected and costs can be minimized. This thesis aims to compare the mechanical performances of PLA, ABS and PETG filaments used in three-dimensional printers in both their pure and recycled forms. Standardized test samples were produced using pure PLA, ABS and PETG filaments and their recycled versions. The samples were mechanically evaluated with tensile tests in accordance with ASTM D638 standards, flexural tests in accordance with ASTM D790 standards and ASTM D6110 Charpy. For printing processes, 3D printer settings were optimized specifically for filament types, parameters such as printing temperature and layer thickness were kept constant, and only the infill ratio and infill shape were parametrically changed. As a result, while pure PLA stands out with its high tensile strength in tensile strength, a slight decrease in strength was observed in recycled PLA samples. In ABS and PETG samples, the performance loss due to recycling was more pronounced compared to PLA. In terms of flexural strength, pure and recycled PETG gave the most consistent results in terms of flexural strength. A tendency to become brittle after recycling was detected in ABS samples.