John  Wong Huang Ung, Shajahan  Maidin, Suriati  Akmal, Ahmad  Syafiq Mohamed, Saiful  Bahri Mohamed, 
    Simulation of Heat Transfer in Vacuum Environment for Fused
Deposition Modeling Process,
    Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
    Volume 12,Issue 24,
    2017,
    Pages 7662-7667,
    ISSN 1816-949x,
    jeasci.2017.7662.7667,
    (https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=jeasci.2017.7662.7667)
    Abstract: Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) has been around for several decades and is currently one of the
most used Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies. In FDM, objects are produced by adding material layer
by layer. The material extruded from the FDM’s nozzle tip was in the hot semi-molten state above 200°C. Hence
when the FDM process involves temperature gradients, the thermal stresses would be present and affects the
product quality such as the mechanical strength. This study presents a method to design and analysis of
vacuum chamber and examines how the heat transfers from a constant heat source to the surrounding
in a low-level vacuum through finite element analysis simulations. A vacuum chamber was successfully
designed and could sustain 100 kPA and the thermal simulations showed that, the heat loss from deposited
material decreased as the vacuum level increased. The heat transfer from convection was reduced and rapid
cooling can be removed. The reduced heat loss will prevent stress to build up and accumulate around the
product and improves the specimen’s strength. Results from this study can be used to predict the suitable
vacuum environment for improving FDM’s print quality.
    Keywords: Fused deposition modeling;simulation;finite element analysis;heat transfer;affects;quality