Finish milling of polylactide (PLA) 3D-printed parts: Influence of printing pattern and lubrication on final surface roughness
Margaux LORENZONI, Laurent SPITAELS, Edouard RIVIERE-LORPHEVRE, Jérémy ODENT, Rachid M’SAOUBI, Liam CLOËZ, Michaël FONTAINE, François DUCOBU
Abstract. Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is an additive manufacturing (AM) process bringing many advantages over conventional processes such as allowing to obtain complex geometries and personalized designs at a lower cost. However, this process does not allow to reach tight surface roughness nor dimensional tolerances. To overcome these limits, post-production finishing techniques are required, such as finish milling. Yet, due to their intrinsic properties, thermoplastics tend to melt and form burr during cutting preventing the reach of fine surface quality. Therefore, this paper proves the relevance and necessity of using lubrication and shortening the machining time to reduce burr formation and allow to reach better final surface roughness.
Keywords
Polylactide, PLA, Additive Manufacturing, Milling, Finishing, Printing Pattern, Surface Roughness
Published online 5/7/2025, 10 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Margaux LORENZONI, Laurent SPITAELS, Edouard RIVIERE-LORPHEVRE, Jérémy ODENT, Rachid M’SAOUBI, Liam CLOËZ, Michaël FONTAINE, François DUCOBU, Finish milling of polylactide (PLA) 3D-printed parts: Influence of printing pattern and lubrication on final surface roughness, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 54, pp 1747-1756, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903599-188
The article was published as article 188 of the book Material Forming
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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