Research Article Optimization of Mechanical Properties and Surface Characteristics of PLA+ 3D Printing Materials Ali H. Kadhum , Salah Al-Zubaidi , and Salah Sabeeh Abed AlKareem Department of Automated Manufacturing Engineering, Al•Khwarizmi College of Engineering, University of Baghdad, Baghdad 10071, Iraq CorrespondenceshouldbeaddressedtoSalahAl•Zubaidi;salah.salman@kecbu.uobaghdad.edu.iq Received 10 March 2023; Revised 23 June 2023; Accepted 4 August 2023; Published 21 August 2023 AcademicEditor:AndreasB¨ uck Copyright©2023AliH.Kadhumetal.TisisanopenaccessarticledistributedundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionLicense, whichpermitsunrestricteduse,distribution,andreproductioninanymedium,providedtheoriginalworkisproperlycited. Recently,thereisagrowingdemandtowardsadopting3Dprintingtechnologyinvarioussectorsduetoitspotentialmerits.Te mechanicalpropertiesandsurfacequalityofthe fnalproductareinfuencedbytheprocessparameters.Terefore,thisstudyaims tooptimizetheinflldensityandpatternbesideprintingspeedandtemperaturetoachieveoptimummechanicalpropertiesand surface characteristics of PLA+ 3D•printed material. Te Taguchi method was applied with L9 array, and tensile and surface roughnesstestswerecarriedouttoevaluatetheperformanceofspecimensintermsoftheobtainedultimatetensilestrength, Young’smodulus,tensilestrain(%),andsurfaceroughness.Teselectedparameterswiththeirlevelswereasfollows:printing temperature(205,215,and225 ° C),printingspeed(20,50,and80mm/s),inflldensity(30%,60%,and90%),andinfllpattern (triangle,cubic,andconcentric).Tefndingsrevealedthesignifcantimpactoftheinflldensity followedbytheinfllpatternon themechanicalandsurfaceperformancesofthePLA+material.Fromtheotherside,theTaguchimethodwasintegratedwithgrey relational analysis (GRA) as a multiobjective optimization to fnd out the optimum mechanical properties and surface char• acteristicsofthe3D•printedPLA+part.Accordingly,215 ° C,50mm/s,90%,andtrianglepatternachievedoptimummechanical properties(24MPa,3.14GPa,and13.72%)andsurfaceroughness(3.21 µm). 1. Introduction Recently, additive manufacturing (AM) attracts many re• searchers and manufacturers to investigate and utilize this promisingtechnology[1].ManymeritsareprovidedbyAM that enlarge demand for this process such as improving productivity, producing intricate parts, and minimizing warehousesandwastematerials[2,3].Also,awiderangeof materials and techniques can be employed in the AM. Ac• cordingly,thistechnologyhasfoundagoodmarketinmany sectors such as automotive, defense, medical, and aerospace duetoitsfexibilitycomparedwithconventionaltechnologies [4–7]. In general, some traditional manufacturing processes involve material removal (as in metal cutting processes) to produce the desired geometry of the machined part. Tere• fore,annuallyindustrialsectorsinvarious feldsloseahuge amountofmaterialsintheformofchips.Incontrast,additive manufacturing adds materials through a layering process to producetherequiredpartwithdimensionsaccordingtothe specifcation[8].Fuseddepositionmodeling(FDM)isoneof themostappliedadditivemanufacturing(AM)processes,in which melted flament is extruded through a nozzle and deposited on the platform to produce layered products im• mediatelyfromthepartCADmodel[9].FDMisappliedin diferentareas,particularlythebiomedicalsector,toprocess prostheses, implants, drugs, etc. [10]. FDM process utilizes various kinds of thermoplastic flaments with round cross• sections such as polylactic acid (PLA), improved polylactic acid (PLA+), polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG), and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABC). PLA biodegradable material is processed from grown plants, including corn, cassava,andpotato,usingbacterialfermentation[11].PLA+ isamodifedversionofPLAwithgoodimpactresistanceand adherencebetweenprintedlayers,makingitsuitablefor3D printingfunctionalproducts.Itdemonstrateditspotentialas biomaterials in various medical applications, including Hindawi International Journal of Chemical Engineering Volume 2023, Article ID 8887905, 15 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/8887905