Introduction
Mechanical behavior of
acrylonitrile butadiene
styrene fused
deposition materials
modeling
José F. Rodrı́guez
James P. Thomas and
John E. Renaud
The authors
José F. Rodrı́guez is based at the Departamento de
Mecánica, Universidad Simón Bolı́var, Caracas, Venezuela.
James P. Thomas is based at the Multifunctional
Materials Branch, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington,
DC, USA.
John E. Renaud is based at the Department of Aerospace
and Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame,
Notre Dame, IN, USA.
Keywords
Fused deposition modelling,
Mechanical properties of materials
Abstract
Analytical/Computational models for the fused deposition
(FD) material stiffness and strength as a function of
mesostructural parameters are developed. Effective elastic
moduli are obtained using the strength of materials
approach and an elasticity approach based on the
asymptotic theory of homogenization. Theoretical
predictions for unidirectional FD-acrylonitrile butadiene
styrene materials are validated with experimentally
determined values of moduli and strength. For moduli
predictions, the results were found to be satisfactory with
difference between experimental and theoretical values of
less than 10 percent in most cases.
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Rapid Prototyping Journal
Volume 9 · Number 4 · 2003 · pp. 219–230
q MCB UP Limited · ISSN 1355-2546
DOI 10.1108/13552540310489604
219
Fused deposition (FD) modeling, by
Stratasys Inc., belongs to the material
deposition subfamilies of solid freeform
fabrication (SFF) technologies. In this
process, build material in the form of a flexible
filament, is partially melted and extruded
from a robotically controlled deposition head
onto a fixtureless table in a temperature
controlled environment, building the
three-dimensional part layer by layer. The
position of the nozzle is computer controlled
relative to the base, which allows geometric
complex models to be made to precise
dimensions. In FD, the three-dimensional
part takes the form of a laminate composite
with vertically stacked layers consisting of
contiguous material roads or fibers with
interstitial voids. The bonding between
neighboring fibers takes place via
thermally-driven diffusion welding.
In order to fabricate parts by FD with
specific load bearing capabilities, it is required
to have models for the FD material stiffness
and strength as a function of mesostructural
parameters. The experimental investigation
conducted by Rodrı́guez et al. (2001) on
unidirectional FD-acrylonitrile butadiene
styrene (ABS) laminates, showed that
mesostructure affects both stiffness and
strength by introducing anisotropy which is
particularly noticeable in the case of strength.
In the longitudinal direction, stiffness is well
described by the rule of mixtures when
orientation effects in the ABS monofilament
are accounted. On the other hand, fiber
bonding and fiber bond density influenced
the strength and material degradation
(i.e. crazing) at yield since they control
material integrity at high stress values.
In other words, for mesostructures with low
fiber bond length densities, the material is
more likely to behave as an aggregate of fibers
being prone to individual fiber failure.
Most of the modeling conducted in SFF
processes has been related to understanding
the process itself rather than modeling the
mechanical properties of the resulting parts.
In the work of Yardimci and Güçeri (1996),
transient heat transfer models are proposed to
explain the FD process and understand the
rational behind the cooling process. In the
work by Yardimci et al. (1997), the model is
extended to incorporate the extrusion phase
of the process, allowing to study the effect of
 Mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene
José F. Rodrı́guez, James P. Thomas and John E. Renaud
hardware design on thermal hardware
behavior as well as the temperature field
near the vicinity of the deposition point.
Thermomechanical models of the laminated
object manufacturing (LOM) process, which
relate process parameters with temperature
and stress distributions within the laminate
during manufacturing are proposed by Flach
et al. (1998) and Sonmez and Hahn (1998).
Models are developed by Klingbeil et al.
(1998) to understand how residual stresses
develop and how they lead to tolerance loss in
the direct metal deposition process. Similar
efforts have been made to model the effects
of process parameters in the selective laser
sintering (SLS) and stereolithography (STL)
processes (Chambers et al., 1994; Williams
and Deckard, 1998). However, when it comes
to model the mechanical behavior of the
resulting material and how they are related
to manufacturing and mesostructural
parameters, the number of studies is
rather low. Wu et al. (1997) used an
elastic-viscoplastic material model to predict
the stress-strain response on uniaxial
compression tests of SLA built samples using
epoxy resin SL5170. In the case of the FD
process, the composite nature of the material
(material “fibers” plus voids) suggests the use
of classic composite mechanics for the
development of linear elastic constitutive
models for stiffness and strength. This idea
has been used by Kulkarni and Dutta (1997).
They applied the theory of laminate
composites to predict elastic moduli of nylon
laminates built using the FD process. In the
work of Gray et al. (1998), it is also found that
the final mechanical properties of short
thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer
(TLCP) fiber reinforce polypropylene FD
parts may be predicted using composite
materials theory. In a more recent work by
Zak et al. (2000), a novel methodology based
on a modified rule of mixtures model is
proposed for the prediction of the mechanical
properties of short glass-fiber reinforced
photopolymer-based composites.
Comparison of experimental results and
model-based predictions of mechanical
properties demonstrate the effectiveness
of the proposed model.
This paper presents the results of the
stiffness and strength modeling of FD-ABS
components. Strength of materials and
elasticity-based approaches are used to model
the elastic moduli of unidirectional FD-ABS
220
Rapid Prototyping Journal
Volume 9 · Number 4 · 2003 · 219–230
materials with three different mesostructures.
Predictions from the models were then
compared with experimental values of
in-plane tensile tests conducted in FD-ABS
laminates by Rodrı́guez et al. (2001). Results
were found to be satisfactory with difference
between experimental and theoretical moduli
being less than 10 percent in most cases.
Strength modeling using the multiaxial theory
proposed by Azzi and Tsai (1968) was
investigated for a case of FD-ABS material
under plane stress conditions. An excellent
agreement between predicted and
experimental strength values was found.
Constitutive modeling of unidirectional
FD-ABS materials
The methodology employed in this work for
constitutive modeling starts assuming the
possibility of defining a representative volume
element (RVE) for the material. The RVE is
defined by Nemat-Nasser and Hori (1993,
p. 11) as: “A material volume which is
statistically representative of the infinitesimal
material neighborhood of that material
point.” Once the RVE is defined, a
mathematical homogenization theory is used
to transform the constitutive characteristics
of a heterogeneous composite material to that
of a homogeneous material with “effective”
properties that results in equivalent “average”
macroscopic response. Two different
approaches for the mathematical
homogenization are used: strength of the
material approach and the asymptotic theory
of homogenization.
Unidirectional FD materials will be
modeled as three-dimensional homogeneous
linear elastic orthotropic continua with
principal material directions shown in Figure 1
and constitutive equations taking the form
Figure 1 Principal material directions for FD-ABS materials
 Mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene Rapid Prototyping Journal
José F. Rodrı́guez, James P. Thomas and John E. Renaud Volume 9 · Number 4 · 2003 · 219–230

shown below ( Jones, 1999). Effective moduli mesostructural variable called void density
depend on the moduli of the unextruded whose magnitude depends on the direction of
monofilament of ABS plastic and a plane defined at the given point. The void
mesostructural parameters (i.e. void density). density is assumed to be uniform on any given
plane through the solid. Along with this
e ¼ S
s;
assumption, elementary stress and strain
2 3
1
2 nE

21 2 nE

31 0 0 0 fields are applied to a RVE of material to
8 9 E
1 2 3
> e 11 > 6 7 obtain effective elastic properties.
>
> >
> 6 n
12 1 n
32 7
> > 62
7 Equations (3)-(9) resume the effective
>
>
> e
>
>
22 >
6 E1 E
1 2 E
3 0 0 0 7
>
> >
> 6 7 properties obtained using the approach
>
> >
> 6 n
13 7
>
> > 6 2
2 n

23
1 0 0 0 7
< 33 >
e = 6 E1 E2 E1 7 described earlier. The reader is referred to
6 7 Appendix 1 for further details regarding the
¼6 7
>
> e 23 >
> 6 0 0 0 1
0 0 7
>
> >
> 6
23
G 7 mathematical derivation.
>
> >
> 6 7
>
> >
e 13 > 6 7
>
> >
> 6 0 0 0 0 1
0 7 E
1 ¼ ð1 2 r1 ÞE; ð3Þ
>
> >
> 6
13
G 7
:e >
> ; 6 7
12 4 5
0 0 0 0 0 1


12 1=2
G E
2 ¼ E
3 ¼ 1 2 r1 E; ð4Þ
8 9
> s11 >
>
> >
>

>
> >
> 1=2
>
> s >
22 > ð1 2 r1 Þ 1 2 r1
>
> >
>
13

12 ¼ G
 ; ð5Þ
>
> >
> G ¼G
> s33 >
> > ð1 2 r1 Þ þ 1 2 r1
1=2
< =
£ : ð1Þ
>
> s23 >>
>
> >
>

>
> >
>
23 ¼ 1 2 r1=2 G;
>
> > G ð6Þ
>
> s 13 >
>
>
1
>
> >
>
:s >
> ;
12
n
12 ¼ n
13 ¼ ð1 2 r1 Þn; ð7Þ
E
1 ; E
2 ; E
3 are the effective Young’s moduli in

directions 1, 2, and 3, n
ij are the effective 1=2
n
23 ¼ 1 2 r1 n; ð8Þ
Poisson’s ratios for the transverse strains
in the jth direction when stressed in the


12 ; G

23 ; G

13 are the 1=2
ith direction, and G n
21 ¼ n
31 ¼ n
32 ¼ 1 2 r1 n: ð9Þ
effective shear moduli in the 1-2, 2-3, and
1-3 planes, respectively. Symmetry of the In equations (3)-(9), E, G, and n are the
compliance tensor implies: elastic material properties of the bulk ABS
n
ij n
ji material, and r1 is the void density on plane 1
¼ ; for i; j ¼ 1; 2; 3; ð2Þ (plane with normal along x1).
E
i E
j

so that only three of the six Poisson’s ratios are

independent. Three Young’s moduli, three
Poisson’s ratios, and three shear moduli total
up to nine independent elastic moduli that
must be specified to characterize the linear
elastic constitutive equation for this material.
Mechanics of materials approach
The material will be considered as a solid with
aligned prismatic voids (Figure 1). It is
assumed that a characteristic length defining
the cross section of the void can be defined.
With this premise, the development of
effective properties is carried out on the basis
of a mixture model. In this model, each point
in the continuum is associated with a tensorial
221
Homogenization approach
For the case in which the solid has a periodic
micro/meso-structure, a well established
elasticity-based homogenization procedure
can be used for determining the effective
properties. Two main approaches are
commonly used, both assume that the
periodicity of the material mesostructure
induces an analogous periodic perturbation
in the displacement, strain, and stress fields.
The first approach expresses the displacement
as a Fourier series expansion in the period of
the micro/meso structure (Nemat-Nasser and
Hori, 1993). The second approach, known
as the asymptotic theory of homogenization,
expresses the displacement as a perturbed
 Mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene Rapid Prototyping Journal
José F. Rodrı́guez, James P. Thomas and John E. Renaud Volume 9 · Number 4 · 2003 · 219–230

solution in the period of the micro/meso Strength modeling of unidirectional

structure which is assumed to tend to zero. FD-ABS materials
Consider a periodic solid as shown in
Figure 2. The strength of FD-ABS materials has been
In Figure 2, x represents the macroscopic modeled using the classical strength theory for
scale where effective properties have to be composite materials under multiaxial loading.
found, while y is the micro/meso scale which A simple multiaxial strength theory has been
accounts for the periodicity of the material. proposed by Azzi and Tsai (1968) for fiber
The homogenization theory attempts to find reinforced composites. This is an extension of
effective properties by solving the following the theory for anisotropic materials proposed
elasticity problem for u ð1Þ ðx; yÞ in the unit cell by Hill (1950), and can also be considered as a
(y scale level) for six elementary macroscopic particular case of the more general tensor
strain states Eðu ð0Þ ðxÞÞ ¼ 7u ð0Þ ðxÞ describing theory proposed by Tsai and Wu (1971). For
pure elongation and shear. Azzi and Tsai, the failure surface is assumed
   to be quadratic in the stress components, i.e.
› › ð1Þ › ð0Þ
C ijkl uk ðx; yÞ þ uk ðxÞ ¼ 0;
›yj ›y l › xl f ðsij Þ ;C 1 ðs22 2 s33 Þ2 þ C 2 ðs33 2 s11 Þ2

u ð1Þ ðx; yÞ Y 2 periodic; ð10Þ þ C 3 ðs11 2 s22 Þ2 þ 2C 4 s23

2
ð13Þ
 
› ð1Þ
2
þ 2C 5 s13 2
þ 2C 6 s12 ¼ 1;
u ðx; yÞ ¼ e y ðu ð1Þ Þ ¼ 0:
›y j
where the coefficients C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, and
Solutions obtained from the problem given by C6 are determined from tensile and shear tests
equation (10) are used to find effective in the axes of anisotropic symmetry. Since all
material properties through the average the terms in equation (13) are squared, the
operator failure surface predicts the same strength in
Z tension as in compression. For the case of

1
CðxÞ ¼ CðyÞ : Hðx; yÞ dY ; ð11Þ plane stress in the 1-2 plane of a unidirectional
Y Y*
lamina with fibers oriented in direction 1,
where Y is the volume of the unit cell and H is s33 ¼ s13 ¼ s23 ¼ 0: If the transverse
the fourth order homogenization tensor given strengths are assumed to be equal, the failure
by surface reduces to:
2 2
Hðx; yÞ ¼ I kl þ e y ðI kl Þ; ð12Þ s11 s11 s22 s22 s2
2 2 2 þ 2 þ 12 ¼ 1; ð14Þ
S1 S1 S 2 S 212
where I kl are elementary strain states
(elongation and pure shear) and e y ðI kl Þ is the where S1 is the strength in direction 1
microscopic strain resulting from the solution (direction of the fibers), S2 is the strength
of problem (10) for Eðu ð0Þ ðxÞÞ ¼ I kl : in the transverse direction, and S12 is the
A rigorous formulation of this theory can be in-plane shear strength.
found in the work of Bensoussan et al. (1976) For the case of an off-axis tensile specimen,
and Duvaut (1983). Appendix 2 contains the components of the stress in the principal
a description of the asymptotic approach material directions, s11, s22, s12, are given
and its application to perforated media and in terms of the stress in the axial direction
FD materials. The reader is referred to this of the coupon, sx, as:
appendix for further details.
s11 ¼ sx cos2 u; s22 ¼ sx sin2 u;
ð15Þ
Figure 2 Periodic body and unit cell s12 ¼ 2sx sin u cos u:

Substitution of the above expressions into

equation (14) leads to
 
1 cos4 u 1 1
¼ þ 2 cos2 u sin2 u
sx S 21 S 212 S 21

sin4 u
þ : ð16Þ
S 22
222
 Mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene
José F. Rodrı́guez, James P. Thomas and John E. Renaud
Equation (16) can be used to obtain the
in-plane shear strength, S12, from an off-axis
test.
Modeling results
Constitutive modeling of unidirectional
FD-ABS
The three mesostructures of unidirectional
FD-ABS material shown in Figure 3 were
considered. Void density values from
Rodrı́guez et al. (2001) were used in the
mechanics of materials model.
For calculating the effective properties of
FD-ABS materials using the theory of
asymptotic homogenization described earlier,
the elasticity problem given by equation (10)
was solved using the finite element method
with linear triangular elements. Periodicity
boundary conditions are directly accounted
for in the code by constraining nodes on
opposite sides of the unit cell to have equal
displacements. On the other hand, the zero
mean deformation constraint is first reduced
to a set of linear equations in displacement
and then handled using Lagrange multipliers
in the constraint minimization of the potential
energy function. Finally, the assembled
system is solved iteratively using sparse matrix
algebra to optimize the use of computer
resources. Detailed issues related to the
implementation are given by Rodrı́guez
(1999). The geometry for the finite element
simulation was obtained from independent
micrographs of the mesostructure, similar to
those shown in Figure 3. These micrographs
were digitized, four unit cells were randomly
picked and the geometry of the void extracted.
The unit cells were chosen in such a way
that a given cavity would be surrounded by
four fibers. Figure 4 shows a finite element
mesh for typical unit cells for the aligned
mesostructure with negative fiber-to-fiber
gap ðg ¼ 225:4 mmÞ and the skewed
Figure 3 Mesostructures. (a) Aligned mesostructure with fiber-to-fiber gap, g ¼ 225.4 mm, (b) skewed mesostructure
with g ¼ 2 25.4 mm, (c) skewed mesostructure with g ¼ 76.2 mm
223
Rapid Prototyping Journal
Volume 9 · Number 4 · 2003 · 219–230
mesostructure with positive fiber-to-fiber
gap ðg ¼ 76:2 mmÞ:
A convergence study of the FEM solution
was conducted in order to determine the
appropriate mesh size. Meshes with 900
nodes were taken for aligned configurations
while for skewed configurations, meshes with
1,900 nodes were used in the computations.
The effective moduli estimates for FD-ABS
materials with the mesostructures under
consideration are listed in Table I along with
the experimentally determined moduli from
Rodrı́guez et al. (2001). Results show that
both methods perform similarly in predicting
effective elastic properties, with less than
10 percent difference between experimental
and calculated values in general. Larger
negative differences occur for the Poisson
ratio prediction.
It is pertinent to mention that results
from the homogenization theory predict the
material to be monoclinic and not orthotropic
as was originally assumed for the modeling.
However, shear coupling terms in the effective
stiffness tensor were found to be small (one
order of magnitude lower) when compared
to those defining pure orthotropic symmetry,
as shown in Table II for the aligned
mesostructure. The coupling was weaker for
the case of skewed mesostructures.
Strength modeling of unidirectional
FD-ABS materials
Longitudinal (08), transverse (908), and
off-axis (108) tensile tests were performed
on unidirectional FD-ABS specimens with
aligned mesostructure and fiber-to-fiber gap,
g ¼ 225 mm; to determine S1, S2, and S12.
These values were used to predict the strength
at any other fiber orientation using equation
(16) in accordance with the Azzi and Tsai
failure theory. Table III resumes the
experimental in-plane shear strength
at different off-axis orientations from
 Mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene Rapid Prototyping Journal
José F. Rodrı́guez, James P. Thomas and John E. Renaud Volume 9 · Number 4 · 2003 · 219–230

Figure 4 Typical mesh for aligned configuration (900 nodes) with fiber-to-fiber gap, g ¼ 2 25.4 mm and skewed
configuration (1,900 nodes) with fiber-to-fiber gap, g ¼ 76.2 mm

Table I Comparison of predicted elastic moduli with experiments

Mesostructure Property Experiment Strength of materials Percent Homogenization Percent
E1 (MPa) 1972.0 2076.8 +5.1 2075.8 +5.3
Aligned E2 (MPa) 1762.7 1645.5 26.7 1830.2 +3.8
g: 2 25 mm v12 (1) 0.377 0.315 216.9 0.339 210.0
G12 (MPa) 676.6 686.7 +13.4 677.7 +0.2
E1 (MPa) 1986.6 2129.2 +7.2 2119.1 +6.7
Skewed E2 (MPa) 1701.6 1755.9 +3.2 1884.9 +10.8
g:2 25 mm v12 (1) 0.385 0.323 216.1 0.338 212.1
G12 (MPa) 675.9 719.8 +6.5 708.3 +4.8

E1 (MPa) 1807.7 1934.3 +7.0 1963.9 +8.6

Skewed E2 (MPa) 1400.8 1418.0 +1.2 1374.3 21.9
g:76.5 mm v12 (1) 0.357 0.293 217.9 0.338 25.4
G12 (MPa) 659.5 612.0 27.2 629.3 24.6

Table II Monoclinic shear coupling in the stiffness matrix Figure 5 Strength of unidirectional FD-ABS material with
for the aligned mesostructure aligned configuration and negative fiber-to-fiber gap,
against angle orientation
Stiffness matrix term Value (MPa)
S41 18.4
S42 35.9
S43 16.1
S44 681.8

Table III Yield strength at different off-axis orientation for

FD-ABS material with aligned mesostructure
Angle (8) S (MPa)
0 24.4 ^ 0.1
10 23.6 ^ 0.4
30 19.2 ^ 1.5
45 16.8 ^ 1.4 Discussion
60 14.5 ^ 1.2
90 13.6 ^ 1.1 The comparison of predicted versus
experimental moduli show that the in-plane
Rodrı́guez et al. (2001), and Figure 5 moduli of FD-ABS materials can be predicted
compares the results from the theory with using any of the approaches investigated.
experimental values. Results from the modeling also showed that
The agreement of the theory with assuming orthotropic behavior of the material
experiments is excellent. The large scatter in to model the stiffness is a good approximation
experimental strength values for 308 # u # since shear coupling was found to be weak.
608 might be related to a transition in the Most of the moduli predictions were over
failure mode. predicted. The reason for this is due to
224
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José F. Rodrı́guez, James P. Thomas and John E. Renaud Volume 9 · Number 4 · 2003 · 219–230

changes in the mechanical properties of the
row ABS thermoplastic during the
manufacturing process of the FD-ABS
material (Rodrı́guez et al., 2001). In fact, a
reduction in the elastic tensile modulus and
strength of the monofilament ABS occurs
after extrusion due to molecular orientation
effects. Better agreement between theory and
experiments is expected when the elastic
moduli of the FD extruded fibers are used for
effective moduli calculations. While the other
moduli are over predicted by the theories,
the Poisson’s ratio is underpredicted by all
theories. The same explanation for this
behavior, molecular orientation effects in
the extruded fiber, as for the other moduli
can be given in this case.
The results from the strength modeling
showed that the multi-axial strength theory of
Azzi and Tsai (1968) can be used to describe
the strength behavior of FD-ABS materials
under plane stress. The larger scatter in the
strength obtained at higher values of the angle
of orientation, can be attributed to a transition
in the failure mode of the material from
a ductile fracture mode to a rather brittle
fracture mode dominated by interface
fracture. This is in part evidenced in the lost
of ductility of the stress-strain curves for
increasing off-axis angles as shown in Figure 6.
The figure not only shows a loss of ductility
with increasing angle, but also suggests that
the transition from ductile to brittle failure
occurs rather quickly after relative small
changes in the off-axis angle from the
longitudinal (08) configuration. This was also
observed in the experiments where failure
of off-axis specimens always occurred along
the fiber-to-fiber interface.
The observed anisotropy in the strength
behavior can be better understood by
examining the stress field at mesostructure
level when a particular macrostress, S, is
applied. The theory of homogenization allows
to compute the stress at the mesostructure
level for a given applied macrostress S
(Duvaut, 1983; Rodrı́guez, 1999).
Figure 7 shows the effect of void geometry
on the octahedral or Von Mises stress at the
mesostructure level for the case of a unitary
macroscopic stress S; applied in direction 1
€
ðS11 ¼ 1 MPa; Sij ¼ 0; i – 1; j – 1Þ:
This case corresponds to the situation of
testing the FD-ABS material along the
longitudinal direction. On the other hand,
Figure 8 shows the effect of void geometry on
the octahedral or Von Mises stress at the
mesostructure level for the case of a unitary
macroscopic stress S; applied in direction 2
€
ðS22 ¼ 1 MPa; Sij ¼ 0; i – 2; j – 2Þ:
This case corresponds to the situation of
Figure 7 Microscopic octahedral stress for S11¼1 MPa (longitudinal loading)
in aligned mesostructure
Figure 8 Microscopic octahedral stress for S22¼1 MPa (transverse loading)
in aligned mesostructure

Figure 6 Stress-strain curves for different off-axis tensile

tests

225
 Mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene
José F. Rodrı́guez, James P. Thomas and John E. Renaud
testing the FD-ABS material along its
transverse direction.
Figure 7 shows a constant stress
distribution in the material when tested in the
longitudinal direction, with an increase in the

1 as predicted by the rules
stress value of A=A
of mixture. On the other hand, Figure 8 shows
a rather large stress concentration occurring at
the fiber junction. This situation causes local
failure to occur at the void cusp favoring
fiber-to-fiber interface fracture. Note that
for the aligned configuration, a stress
concentration factor of approximately 1.8 is
obtained. Therefore, it is expected that failure
will occur at half of the value of the
macroscopic stress causing failure in the
FD-ABS material when tested in the
longitudinal direction. This observation is
corroborated by data from Table III where the
yield stress ratio for the 0 and 908 off-axis
specimens is close to 1.8.
Conclusions
In general, all investigated models were found
to be capable of predicting the in-plane
anisotropic elastic moduli of FD-ABS
materials reasonably well. Although
homogenization and analytical methods
rendered very similar results, the theory
of homogenization has the advantage of
providing a set of elastic moduli, which are
both, complete and coherent. This method
also provides additional information about the
local stress distribution in the material, which
can be used to interpret observed failure
modes. However, strength of materials
calculations has the great advantage of
simplicity. Results from modeling also showed
that the in-plane strength behavior is well
described by a failure theory originally
formulated for anisotropic materials. Even
though the theory was only applied to the case
of in-plane behavior, similar results are
expected in the other material planes since the
general characteristics of the material do not
change greatly.
Additional investigations must be
conducted in determining the elastic moduli
of extruded fibers since it was found that
changes in polymer orientation occurring
during the FD manufacturing process affect
its mechanical properties, which necessarily
influences the effective moduli of the FD-ABS
material. Future efforts should also be
devoted to measuring elastic moduli and
226
Rapid Prototyping Journal
Volume 9 · Number 4 · 2003 · 219–230
strength in the other material directions
in order to fully evaluate the modeling
capabilities of the mentioned theories and
to determine their usefulness in the design
of FD-ABS structural components.
As a final closure, it is important to point
that results show a remarkable influence of the
void shape on the mechanical properties of
FD-ABS materials, therefore, efforts must
be dedicated to characterize the constitutive
behavior of FD-ABS materials in cross-ply
configurations.
References
Azzi, V.D. and Tsai, S.W. (1968), “Anisotropic strength of
composites”, Experimental Mechanics, Vol. 5 No. 9,
pp. 283-8.
Bensoussan, A., Lions, J.L. and Papanicolau, G. (1976),
Asymptotic Analysis for Periodic Structures, North
Holland, Amsterdam.
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“A phenomenological finite element model of part
building in the stereolithography process”,
Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on
Rapid Prototyping, Dayton, OH, pp. 81-90.
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theories predicting thermoelastic properties of
fibrous composites”, Journal of Composite
Materials, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 332-58.
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Trends and Applications of Pure Mathematics to
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(1988), “Simulation of laminated object
manufacturing (LOM) with variation of process
parameters”, Proceedings of the Solid Freeform
Fabrication Symposium, Austin, TX, pp. 407-16.
Gray, R.W., Baird, D.G. and Bøhn, D.G. (1998), “Effects of
processing conditions on short TLCP fiber reinforced
FDM parts”, Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 4 No. 1,
pp. 14-25.
Hill, R. (1950), The Mathematical Theory of Plasticity,
Oxford University Press, London.
Jones, R.M. (1999), Mechanics of Composite Materials,
2nd ed. Taylor and Francis, Philadelphia, PA.
Klingbeil, N.W., Beuth, J.L., Chin, R.K. and Amon, C.H.
(1998), “Measurement and modeling of residual
stress-induced warping in direct metal deposition
processes” Proceedings of the Solid Freeform
Fabrication Symposium, Austin, TX, pp. 367-74.
Kulkarni, P. and Dutta, D. (1997), “Deposition strategies
and resulting part stiffnesses in layered
manufacturing” (Paper#: DETC97DAC3987),
Proc. 1997 ASME Design Engr. Tech. Conf.,
Sacramento, CA.
Nemat-Nasser, S. and Hori, M. (1993), Micromechanics:
Overall Properties of Heterogeneous Materials,
Elsevier, Netherlands.
Rodrı́guez, J.F. (1999), “Modeling the mechanical behavior
of fused deposition acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene
 Mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene Rapid Prototyping Journal
José F. Rodrı́guez, James P. Thomas and John E. Renaud Volume 9 · Number 4 · 2003 · 219–230

polymer components”, Doctoral dissertation, following, the void density is assumed to be

University of Notre Dame, Aerospace and uniform on any given plane throughout the
Mechanical Engineering Department, Notre Dame, IN.
solid.
Rodrı́guez, J.F., Thomas, J.P. and Renaud, J.E. (2001),
“Mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene Based on earlier considerations, the void
(ABS) fused deposition materials”, Rapid area on a plane normal to the fibers (plane 1 in
Prototyping Journal, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 148-58. Figure 1), Að1Þ
v ; can be written as:
Sonmez, F.O. and Hahn, T.H. (1998), “Thermomechanical X
analysis of the laminated object manufacturing Að1Þ
v ¼ cl 2i ; cl 2 ; ðA:1Þ
(LOM) process”, Rapid Prototyping Journal,
Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 26-36. where l is a characteristic length, and c is a
Suquet, P.M. (1983), “Elements of homogenization for shape factor depending on the void geometry.
inelastic solid mechanics”, in Sanchez-Palencia, E.
and Zaoui, A. (Eds), Trends and Applications of Pure
For example, for square cylinders c ¼ 1; while
Mathematics to Mechanics, Lecture Notes in Physics, for circular cylinders, c ¼ p=4: Now, defining
Vol. 272, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 193-278. a cubic RVE of length L, the areal void density
Tsai, S.W. and Wu, E.M.A. (1971), “General theory of in the plane normal to the fibers (plane 1),
strength for anisotropic materials”, Journal of Að1Þ
v ; is given by:
Composite Materials, Vol. 5, pp. 58-80.
Yardimci, M.A. and Güçeri, S. (1996), “Conceptual Að1Þ
2
v ¼ r1 A ¼ r1 L ; ðA:2Þ
framework for the thermal process modeling of
fused deposition”, Rapid Prototyping Journal, where r1 is the aerial void density in plane 1.
Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 26-31.
Yardimci, M.A., Hattori, T., Güçeri, S. and Danforth, S.C.
By equating equations (A.1) and (A.2), the
(1997), “Thermal analysis of fused deposition”, characteristic length is found to be:
Proceedings of the Solid Freeform Fabrication rffiffiffiffiffi
Symposium, Austin, TX, pp. 689-98.
r1
l¼ L: ðA:3Þ
Williams, J.D. and Deckard, C.R. (1998), “Advances in c
modeling the effects of selected parameters on the
SLS process”, Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 4 No. 2, With this definition of the characteristic
pp. 90-100. length, the effective void area in orthogonal
Wu, Z., Azhi, S., Paul, F.W., Hunt, E. and Ogale, A.A. (1997), planes 2 and 3 is given by:
“Modeling of mechanical behavior of SLA parts”, rffiffiffiffiffi rffiffiffiffiffi
Proceedings of the Solid Freeform Fabrication ð2Þ ð3Þ r1
r1 2
Symposium, Austin, TX, pp. 725-32. Av ¼ Av ¼ A¼ L : ðA:4Þ
c c
Zak, G., Haberer, M., Park, C.B. and Benhabib, B. (2000),
“Mechanical properties of short-fiber layered
2 AðiÞ ; yields
Using the fact Ai ¼ A v
composites”, Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 6 No. 2,
pp. 107-18. pffiffiffiffiffi
A1 ¼ ð1 2 r1 ÞA; A2 ¼ A3 ¼ ð1 2 r1 ÞA:
ðA:5Þ
Further reading Results given by equation (A.5) were used
Rodrı́guez, J.F., Thomas, J.P. and Renaud, J.E. (2000), to develop the expressions for the effective
“Characterization of the mesostructure of moduli.
fused-deposition acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene In addition to the earlier definitions, the
materials”, Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 6 No. 3, following particular assumptions on the
pp. 175-85. material are made:
.
the extruded ABS fibers are linear-elastic
and isotropic;
Appendix 1: Constitutive modeling. .
there is perfect bonding between the
Mechanics of materials approach
fibers.
A material with aligned prismatic voids, as To obtain the effective Young’s modulus in the
shown in Figure 1, will be considered. Also, it principal directions, E
1 ; E
2 ; E
3 ; identical
will be assumed that a characteristic length cubes of actual and effective materials of side
related to the cross section of the void can be length dx are considered. If a uniform load F
defined. The effective material properties will is applied along each principal direction at
be derived based on the later premise and the a time, the elongation along the direction
use of a mixture model where each point in of application of F for both materials are
the continuum is associated with a tensorial given by
mesostructural variable called void density
whose magnitude depends on the direction of F dx F dx
dact ¼ ; deff ¼

; ðA:6Þ
a plane defined at the given point. In the Ai E AEi
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 Mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene Rapid Prototyping Journal
José F. Rodrı́guez, James P. Thomas and John E. Renaud Volume 9 · Number 4 · 2003 · 219–230

where E is Young’s modulus of the ABS, A
is Note that equations (A.7) for Young’s moduli
2
the cross sectional area of the RVE (dx ), and and equations (A.11) and (A.12) for Poisson’s
Ai is the material cross section in the actual ratios satisfy the symmetry conditions of the
material. Equating both elongations and using compliance tensor given by equation (2).
equation (A.5) lead to the following
expressions for the effective Young’s modulus
Appendix 2: Constitutive modeling.
E
1 ¼ ð1 2 r1 ÞE;
ðA:7Þ
Homogenization approach
pffiffiffiffiffi
E
2 ¼ E
3 ¼ ð1 2 r1 ÞE
Consider a body V with boundaries ›V having

ij ; are a periodic mesostructure described by a global
The effective shear moduli, G
coordinate, x, and a local coordinate y ¼ x1
determined by considering equal magnitude
where 1 is the characteristic length ratio of
forces, F, applied to each face of the RVE,
the unit cell Y to the macroscopic body V
inducing a homogeneous shear strain g in the
(Figure 2).
material. The shear deformation in the actual
The asymptotic theory seeks the solution
and effective material are given by the
uðx; yÞ to the following linear elasticity
following expressions
  problem on the macroscopic body:
ðactÞ 1 F=Ai F=Aj
eij ¼ þ ; 7·s þ f ¼ 7·ðC : eÞ þ f ¼ 0 in V; ðB:1Þ
2 G G
ðA:8Þ
F=A

ðeff Þ
eij ¼
; i – j u ¼ 0 on ›V1 and s · n ¼ T on ›V2 ;
Gij ðB:2Þ
where G is the shear modulus of the ABS. where C ¼ CðyÞ is a fourth order tensor of
Equating both shear strains and using elastic properties, and ›V ¼ ›V1 þ ›V2 with
equation (A.5) lead to the following ›V1 > ›V2 ¼ 0: The theory assumes that
expressions for the effective shear moduli: the periodicity in the material micro/meso
pffiffiffiffiffi structure imposes a periodic perturbation in
G
12 ¼ G
13 ¼ 2 ð1 2 r1 Þð1 2 p r1 Þ
ffiffiffiffiffi G;
ð1 2 r1 Þ þ ð1 2 r1 Þ the displacement field, and hence the strain
ðA:9Þ and stress fields. In order to solve equations
p ffiffiffiffiffi

23 ¼ ð1 2 r1 ÞG:
G (B.1) and (B.2) for a heterogeneous media,
first an RVE (where effective properties will be
The expression for G
23 ; is the same given by found) has to be defined. For a solid with a
Chamis and Sendeckyj (1968), however the periodic micro/meso structure, the unit cell
expression for G
12 and G
13 are different. which generates the entire structure by
To obtain the expression for the effective periodic repetition represents the RVE.
Poisson’s ratio n
ij ; a constant stress s is Before going into more detail in the theory,
applied along the ith direction, while keeping distinction has to be made between global
all others equal to zero. The elongations in the or macroscopic variables and local or
jth direction for the actual and effective microscopic variables. Macroscopic stress and
material are given by: strain tensors will be denoted as S(x) and
s s E(x), respectively, while s(y) and e(y) will
dðact
jÞ
¼n ; dðeffjÞ ¼ n
ij
; ðA:10Þ represent the microscopic stress and strain. In
E Ei
the work of Nemat-Nasser and Hori (1993),
where v is Poisson’s modulus of the ABS. it is shown that the prescribed macroscopic
Equating both elongations, and using the stress and strain tensors must be the average
results from equation (A.7), the following of the microscopic corresponding variables,
results are obtained: which in the case, when the heterogeneities
in the unit cell are voids, reduce to:
n
12 ¼ n
13 ¼ ð1 2 r1 Þn; Z
pffiffiffiffiffi ðA:11Þ 1
n
23 ¼ ð1 2 r1 Þn: S ðxÞ ¼ sðyÞ dY ;
Y Y*
I
In a similar manner, the effective Poisson’s 1 1 ðB:3Þ
EðxÞ ¼ ½uðyÞ ^ nðyÞ
ratios n
21 ; n
31 ; and n
32 are found to be: Y ›Y 2
pffiffiffiffiffi
n
21 ¼ n
31 ¼ n
32 ¼ ð1 2 r1 Þn: ðA:12Þ þ nðyÞ ^ uðyÞ
dS;
228
 Mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene Rapid Prototyping Journal
José F. Rodrı́guez, James P. Thomas and John E. Renaud Volume 9 · Number 4 · 2003 · 219–230

where Y* is the actual material volume of the
unit cell and n(y) is the outside normal to ›Y.
Based on equation (B.3), the homogeni-
zation and localization terms can be defined.
Homogenization is the procedure that relates
the macroscopic variables to the microscopic
variables through equation (B.3), while
localization is the inverse process in which
microscopic quantities are determined from
macroscopic ones.
macroscopic quantity u ð0Þ ðxÞ: It can be shown
that equation (B.7) has solution and that it is
unique (Duvaut, 1983; Suquet, 1983). The
second constraint given in equation (B.7)
comes from considerations that the average of
the microscopic strain has to be equal to the
macroscopic strain given by equation (B.3).
From equation (B.5), the microscopic strain is
given as:
eðx; yÞ ¼ 7x u ð0Þ ðxÞ þ 7y u ð1Þ ðx; yÞ

Localization and homogenization ¼ Eðu ð0Þ ðxÞÞ þ e y ðu ð1Þ ðx; yÞÞ: ðB:8Þ
The periodicity of V, and the existence of the
The first term on the right hand side of
two scales, x and y, justifies seeking a solution
to equations (B.1) and (B.2) in terms of the equation (B.8), which is independent of the
following asymptotic expansion: microscopic variable y and therefore constant
in the unit cell, represents the volume
uðx; yÞ ¼ u ð0Þ ðx; yÞ þ 1u ð1Þ ðx; yÞ averaged strain applied to the unit cell.
The second term, on the other hand, is the
þ 12 u ð2Þ ðx; yÞ þ · · · ðB:4Þ
oscillating component of the microscopic
where u ðaÞ ðx; yÞ are smooth functions of x and strain which is due to the periodic
Y-periodic (i.e. take the same value on the characteristics of the material. By taking the
opposite sides of the unit cell). The average of equation (B.8), the second
asymptotic strain field associated with constraint in equation (B.7) is obtained.
the expansion given by equation (B.4) are Since the problem given by equation (B.7)
given by is linear, its solution e y ðu ð1Þ ðx; yÞÞ depends
linearly on the data Eðu ð0Þ ðxÞÞ: Now, let I kl be
1
eðx; yÞ ¼ e y ðu ð0Þ Þ þ e x ðu ð0Þ Þ þ e y ðu ð1Þ Þ a set of nine second order tensors with
1 ðB:5Þ components
þ 1½e x ðu ð1Þ Þ þ e y u ð2Þ
þ · · ·; 1
ðI ij Þkl ¼ ðdik djl þ dil djk Þ; ðB:9Þ
2
where the following notation for ex and ey and
has been used and let e y ðI kl Þ be the solution of problem (B.7)
› ða Þ › ða Þ 1 › ða Þ when Eðu ð0Þ ðxÞÞ ¼ I kl : Then, e y ðI kl Þ
u ¼ u þ u represents the field of microscopic oscillatory
›x i › xi 1 ›y i
strain induced by the six elementary states
1 of macroscopic strain (i.e. normal and shear
¼ e x ðu ðaÞ Þ þ e y ðu ðaÞ Þ: ðB:6Þ
1 strain) given by I kl as:
2 3 2 3
After substituting equations (B.5) and (B.6) 1 0 0 0 0 0
into equations (B.1) and (B.2), and factoring 6 7 6 7
6 7 6 7
terms multiplied by equal powers of 1, the I 11 ¼ 6 0 0 0 7; I 22 ¼ 6 0 1 0 7
6 7 6
7;
following elasticity problem for the unit cell is 4 5 4 5
obtained: 0 0 0 0 0 0
   2 3 2 3
› › ð1Þ › ð0Þ 0 0 0 0 1 0
C ijkl u ðx; yÞ þ u ðxÞ ¼ 0; 6 7 6 7
›yj ›y l k › xl k 6 7 6 7
I 33 ¼6
60 0 077; 2I 12 ¼6
61 0 077;
u ð1Þ ðx; yÞ Y -periodic; ðB:7Þ 4 5 4 5
0 0 1 0 0 0
 
› ð1Þ

u ðx; yÞ ¼ e y ðu ð1Þ Þ ¼ 0; 2 3 2 3
›y j 0 0 1 0 0 0
6 7 6 7
6 7 6 7
where k·l is the average strain operator 2I 13 ¼ 6
60 0 077; 2I 23 ¼ 6
60 0 177:
4 5 4 5
(equation (B.3)). Equation (B.7) is called
1 0 0 0 1 0
the localization problem since it finds the
microscopic variable u ð1Þ ðx; yÞ; in terms of the ðB:10Þ
229
 Mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene
José F. Rodrı́guez, James P. Thomas and John E. Renaud
The solution of equation (B.7) for each of the
elementary strain fields given by equation
(B.10) can be reduced to three plain strain
problems for I 11 ; I 22 ; and I 33 ; and three
anti-plane shear problems for I 12 ; I 13 ; and I 23
(Duvaut, 1983; Suquet, 1983).
Hence, the solution e y ðu ð1Þ ðx; yÞÞ for a
general macroscopic strain Eðu ð0Þ ðxÞÞ is given
by the superposition of the elementary
solutions e y ðI kl Þ as
e y ðu ð1Þ ðx; yÞÞ ¼ E kl ðu ð0Þ ðxÞÞe y ðI kl Þ: ðB:11Þ
Finally, using equations (B.8) and (B.11), the
total microscopic strain field is found to be:
ð0Þ
eðuðx; yÞÞ ¼ ½I kl þ e y ðI kl Þ
E kl ðu ðxÞÞ
¼ Hðx; yÞ : Eðu ð0Þ ðxÞÞ; ðB:12Þ
where H(x, y) is the fourth order
homogenization tensor or “strain localization
tensor” (Suquet, 1983). H(x, y) contains
information about the influence of the
heterogeneity in the elastic response of the
material, which is given by the oscillatory
component of the strain e y ðu ð1Þ ðx; yÞÞ: Notice
also that H(x, y) is a symmetric tensor of
average value kHðx; yÞl ¼ I:
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Rapid Prototyping Journal
Volume 9 · Number 4 · 2003 · 219–230
Once the localization problem given by
equation (B.7) has been solved for each of the
elementary strain cases given by equation
(B.10), and the homogenization tensor
Hðx; yÞ has been found, the tensor of
homogenized or effective elastic properties


CðxÞ can be found from the definition of
average stress as:
 Z 
1
Sij ðxÞ ¼ C ijmn ðyÞH mnkl ðx; yÞ dY
Y Y*
ðB:13Þ
E kl ðu ð0Þ ðxÞÞ; ¼ C

ijkl E kl ðu ð0Þ ðxÞÞ;
where
Z

1
CðxÞ ¼ CðyÞ : Hðx; yÞ dY ; ðB:14Þ
Y Y*
is the tensor of homogenized or effective
elastic properties. Note that equation (B.13)
can be used to find the stress distribution at
the micro/meso structural level for a general
macroscopic stress field S. Given S, the
microscopic stress distribution in the cell,
s, can be found by solving for the
macroscopic strain E from equation (B.13),
then use equation (B.11) to obtain the
microscopic strain field e, and then make
use of the constitutive relation s ¼ C : e to
find the microscopic stress field s.