Effect of Printing Orientation and Thickness of 3D Printed PLA Beam on the Flexural Performance: A Combined Experimental and Simulation Study

Authors

  • Kushendarsyah Saptaji Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Sampoerna University
  • Annisa Nurcahyati Puspita Dewi Sutardi Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Sampoerna University
  • Nathan Wijaya Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Sampoerna University
  • Nikolas Krisma Hadi Fernandez Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Sampoerna University
  • Cholik chan Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, The University of Arizona
  • Anwar Ilmar Ramadhan Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta
  • Tedi Kurniawan Department of Engineering Technology, Community College of Qatar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15282/

Keywords:

Three-point bending, Fused Deposition Modeling, Polylactic Acid, Printing Orientation

Abstract

The mechanical properties of 3D printing results especially using fused deposition modeling (FDM) are affected by process parameters including printing speed, infill density, printing patterns and printing orientations. In this study, the effect of 2 different printing orientations (top and front orientation) and thicknesses on the bending deflection behavior of polylactic acid (PLA) beams is investigated. In addition, finite element analysis was conducted to simulate the bending test. Test specimens were produced using FDM with 4 different thicknesses: 2.75 mm, 3.00 mm, 3.25 mm, and 3.50 mm. For each thickness, the two printing orientations (top and front) were applied, resulting in 8 specimen variations in total. Three-point bending using a custom testing device based on ASTM D790 is used to evaluate its deflection. The results show that printing orientation influences the bending behavior of 3D printed PLA structures, especially in thinner specimens and that the specimens printed in the top orientation yield a result that align more closely with FEA simulations.

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Published

06-07-2026

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2026): March

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2026 The Author(s)

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

[1]
K. Saptaji, “Effect of Printing Orientation and Thickness of 3D Printed PLA Beam on the Flexural Performance: A Combined Experimental and Simulation Study”, JMMST, vol. 10, no. 1, Jul. 2026, doi: 10.15282/.