Creative Commons

This dissertation was written as part of the MSc in Strategic Product Design at the International Hellenic University. Nowadays, industry undergoes its fourth revolution, the integration of Internet of Things into the industrial environment (Mario Hermann, 2016). One of the technologies that drives us to the above mentioned fourth industrial revolution is the Additive Manufacturing (AM). New technologies are blooming revolutionizing the AM palette. Thus, some serious questions rise concerning the basic form of additive manufacturing processes that gained popularity among simple, non-engineer users. a) Can structural parts be made out of simple additive manufacturing processes? b) What mechanical properties does a 3d printed part has? c) How different are the parts produced by different 3d printing methods? This popularity led people to investigate these questions and publish their work, like (Tymrak, et al., 2014)and (Lanzotti, et al., 2015) on mechanical properties of 3d printed PLA specimens and (Dickson, et al., 2017). Specimens, made of different materials (PLA, Nylon, Carbon Fibers) were tested to determine Young’s modulus, tensile strength and SN curves with the typical material characterization procedures, in accordance with strength of materials theory, to extract valuable information on the materials’ properties. The thesis focuses a bit more on the newly introduced carbon enhanced nylon specimens that seem very promising on specification sheets. And finally, answer to these three questions by having property datasheets that can be used by designers.