Simulation of uniaxial stress–strain response of 3D-printed polylactic acid by nonlinear finite element analysis

Accurate simulation of mechanical properties of 3D-printed objects can provide critical inputs to designers and manufacturers. Polylactic acid, a biodegradable polymer, is particularly important in this regard due to its excellent print quality and a wide range of applications. Herein, an accurate uniaxial stress–strain profile simulation of 3D-printed PLA is reported. Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was used to simulate the uniaxial tensile test and build a material model for the prediction of the stress–strain response. 3D model for this nonlinear FEA study was built in SolidWorks, and several measures were taken to simulate the nonlinear stress–strain response with high accuracy. Von Mises stress, resultant displacement, and strain plots were produced. Comparison with experimental data extracted from the literature was done to validate the FEA model. Fracture behavior was predicted by FEA stress distribution. Deviations between the stress–strain plot obtained by FEA from the experimentally obtained plot were minimal. The entire curve, except the failure zone, could be precisely simulated. Furthermore, the developed von Mises plasticity material model and the boundary conditions also captured the behavior of specimen under uniaxial tension load and the deviation between experimental results was minor. These results suggest that the developed material model could be useful in non-linear FEA studies on 3D printed PLA objects which are expected to withstand tensile stress.