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What is the Strongest Infill for 3D Printed Objects?

CSEF · 2023 Materials Science Honorable_mention Award

Davidovits Avi · 6

Overview

The purpose of this project was to find the strongest and most durable 3D printed infill (inner support structure) when put through a compression test. I hypothesized that a 3D structure with multiple support points on a 3rd dimension would withstand more pressure than a 2D structure with consistent layers from top to bottom. I tested 9 different infills available on Ultimaker Cura, a popular 3D printing software. They were all tested at 5% density on a 60x60x30 mm cylinder, and printed in Polymaker white PLA. I tried multiple testing methods, but what was ultimately most successful was attaching a bathroom scale to a square of plywood and putting the test structure underneath. With the help of my dad, we added increasing weight to the scale, which had the sample underneath. We started by pressing down on it, but gradually exerted more weight by standing on it if it hadn’t collapsed yet. After collecting the data, my hypothesis was proven wrong because the 2D infills held a lot more weight than the 3D infills. I learned this was because the 3D infills had more pressure going into each midway joint, which caused it to collapse in the middle where it was weaker. If I were to do this experiment again or continue working on it, I would change my method of testing, because I didn’t feel that the results were as exact as I had expected. I would have also tested it by putting weight from a different side to see how that might have affected the results. Overall, I feel like this was a successful experiment, and I look forward to implementing my knowledge into what I 3D print. I will be able to determine which infill will work best for the size and use of the object I am printing.

Source coverage

This record comes from a published award list, not a complete project archive. Its abstract comes from CSEF's public project showcase as archived by the Internet Archive before judging (https://web.archive.org/web/20230401224130/https://ca-csef.zfairs.com/showcase/ShowcaseInfo?f=838e60b7-ea75-46e8-865c-fde4864244b3); the version presented may differ.

Awards (1)

  • Category Award: HM

Competition history

  • CSEF 2023 Materials Science · Entry J1311

Resources

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