Original article

Journal of Reinforced Plastics and

Composites
Mechanical characterisation of a bamboo 0(0) 1–13
! The Author(s) 2020
fibre/polylactic acid composite produced Article reuse guidelines:
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by fused deposition modelling DOI: 10.1177/0731684420938434
journals.sagepub.com/home/jrp

July A Taborda-R
ıos1, Omar L

opez-Botello2,3,
Patricia Zambrano-Robledo1,3 , Luis A Reyes-Osorio1,3 and
Carlos Garza1,4

Abstract
Polymer matrices are usually reinforced with fibres giving a good strength/weight ratio. Currently, innovative research
has been focussed in producing new composite materials using natural fibres as an alternative sustainable material. In the
present work, the mechanical behaviour of a composite based on polylactic acid reinforced with bamboo fibre produced
by additive manufacturing was evaluated. Specimens were manufactured using fused deposition modelling with different
geometry depositions, layer thicknesses and fill densities. The results were evaluated performing an analysis of variance
with a confidence level of 95%. The composites were subjected to mechanical testing to evaluate the influence of
process parameters in tensile strength, strain, and elastic modulus. It was observed that the principal factors that
influence the elasticity are the deposition geometry and fill density. Fracture zones and manufacturing defects were
additionally studied using optical and scanning electron microscopy. The vertical orientation of the layers causes the
premature rupture of the test samples due to the tension being reverted at the interface between the layers. The
specimens showed slight adhesion between the polylactic acid matrix and the bamboo fibres. This effect was related with
the presence of porosity, cracks and local deformations in the composite material.

Keywords
Bamboo fibres, natural fibres, composite materials, additive manufacturing, Taguchi design

Introduction candidates for use as natural fibres in composite mate-

Natural fibre-reinforced composites have recently rials due to their high strength and fast growth
gained great interest due to the concern of developing rate.11–13 Bamboo fibres can be obtained by mechanical
green materials. Natural fibres are economic, decom- needling, scraping, retting, or through a steam explo-
posable and do not have bad effects on health. They sion process.14 Bamboo fibre can be also in a pulped
have high toughness, low density and appropriate spe-
cific strength properties. Moreover, they have very 1
Facultad de Ingenier
ıa Mecánica y El
ectrica, Centro de Investigaci

on e
good thermal properties and energy recovery.1
Innovaci
on en Ingenier
ıa Aeronáutica (CIIIA), Universidad Aut
onoma de
Natural fibres, such as kenaf, bamboo, coir and sisal, Nuevo Le
on, Apodaca, Mexico
have been investigated throughout the years as rein- 2
Tecnol
ogico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingenier
ıa y Ciencias, Monterrey,
forcements of polymer matrices.2–8 These have proven Mexico
3
Laboratorio Nacional de Manufactura Aditiva y Digital (MADiT),
to be highly resistant materials,9 and also offer health/
Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, Mexico
environmental benefits since they are non-carcinogenic 4
Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnolog
ıa (CONACYT), Mexico City,
and safe during processing and handling.10 Research Mexico
has been focussed on the study of the mechanical
Corresponding author:
behaviour of composite materials reinforced with nat- Carlos Garza, CONACYT, Av. Insurgentes Sur 1582, Mexico DF 03940,
ural fibres due to their mechanical properties. Among Mexico.
the various natural fibres, bamboos are good Email: [email protected]
2 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 0(0)

state in which the material is very fine and in a pow- that any fibres within the feedstock would be direction-
dered form. After the fibres are obtained, different ally aligned, as the material is extruded through a
approaches can be selected for its use in composite nozzle with a gradual diminution in diameter, as illus-
materials and as an additive in biopolymers, such as trated in Figure 1.
powder/particle size, short fibre and long fibre Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the most used fila-
reinforcement.14 ments in different types of additive manufacturing sys-
Jindal15 noticed that tensile strength of bamboo- tems. Additionally, it is economic, biodegradable,
fibre reinforced plastic (BFRP) composite is compara- offers a good surface finish and has acceptable physical
tively equivalent to that of the mild steel, whereas their and mechanical performance.26 Regarding the use of
density is only 12%. Ochi16 studied high strength bio- AM for bamboo fibre and PLA composite materials,
degradable composites produced by an emulsion-type Zhao et al.27 investigated composites made of bamboo
biodegradable resin as the matrix and bamboo fibre powder and PLA focussing on the right formula for the
bundles as the reinforcement. In this study it was preparation of the materials. On this matter, their stud-
observed that the tensile strength of the composites ies focussed on the ratio of bamboo and polymer,
grew with increasing fibre content up to 70%. material blending, the amount of additives included,
Meanwhile, due to the hydrophilic behaviour of plant extrusion processing temperature. Wang et al.28 manu-
fibres (such as bamboo fibres) and hydrophobic behav- factured a composite material of PLA reinforced with
iour of resins, compatibility issues restricted the addi-
bamboo fibres, obtaining a 100% natural biodegrad-
tional application of natural fibre composites.17
able material for industrial purposes. The impact of
Natural fibre composite materials with no pre-
pre-cooling of the bamboo fibres using 4% (weight)
treatment possess poor interfacial adhesion between
of NaOH at room temperature for 1 h on the thermal
fibres and matrix; this generally leads to porosity, envi-
and mechanical properties of the resulting composite
ronmental deterioration and the degradation of mate-
rial properties.18 Common surface modification materials was methodically analysed. Differential scan-
techniques consist of alkali treatment, acetylation, cya- ning calorimetry and thermogravimetric studies dem-
noethylation and coupling agent treatment; being alkali onstrated that the addition of treated bamboo fibres
treatment one of the easiest and most efficient techni- leads to greater glass transition and crystallisation tem-
ques.19–21 Lu et al.22 validated that NaOH treated and peratures of the resulting composite materials.
KH560 treated cellulose fibre reinforced epoxy compo- Variations in morphology revealed the potential disso-
sites showed higher material properties than unaltered lution of hemicellulose and lignin by alkalinisation with
ones. Zhang et al.23 studied the suitable NaOH concen- NaOH, indicating a better interfacial adhesion.
tration for bamboo fibre treatment and concluded that Depuydt et al.29 analysed PLA loaded with bamboo
6% (weight) NaOH treated bamboo fibres were ideal fibres as a function of the length over diameter ratio
for the manufacture of bamboo fibre composites. This (l/d) of the reinforcement. Although the results
indicates that the introduction of additives such as cou-
pling agents, plasticisers, stabilisers, etc., could improve
the mechanical response to different degradation fac-
tors of 3D printed composites using natural fibres.
Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have
significantly progressed throughout the years, which
has been providing the opportunity to produce parts
and materials (including natural fibre composites) that
could only be manufactured using conventional meth-
ods. Dizon et al.24 provided a thorough review of the
most used AM techniques for polymers and the general
ASTM and ISO mechanical test standards to determine
the strength of the printed components. Pitt et al.25
explored the mechanical properties of oven-cured and
AM composites manufactured from recycled sustain-
able wood waste in combination with glass fibre as
reinforcement. AM samples had greater material prop-
erties, with up to 73% increment in tensile strength
compared to the oven-cured samples because of densi-
fication of feedstock/paste and fibre in-situ directional Figure 1. Schematic of the extrusion/deposition and hypothesis
line-up.25 A considerable hypothesis in this study was of fibre alignment.
Taborda-R
ıos et al. 3

confirmed that the l/d ratio had a significant effect on the specimens, which contains 20% recycled bamboo
stiffness (longer fibres raise it by 215%), it did not show fibre and 80% PLA and have a diameter of 2.85 mm.30
the same effect on strength; the mechanical properties The glass transition temperature of the material is
of sole PLA were greater.29 55 C. The manufacturing of the specimens was carried
In this work the mechanical behaviour of an AM out using an Ultimaker 3 Extended 3D printer with
composite filament based on PLA reinforced with dual-extruder. The print speed was set for 40 mm/s.
recycled bamboo fibres was analysed. This commercial The printing bed was preheated at 50 C and the print-
material (BambooFill) was chosen due to its broad ing temperature was set to 200 C. For each combina-
excellent extrusion properties, good post-printing tion 7 test pieces were manufactured, resulting in 63
modelling ability and adjustable texture. The specimens specimens. The printing time of each specimen was
were manufactured using fused deposition modelling 1 h and 45 min and the selected cooling time was
(FDM) according to a Taguchi design of experiments 20 min, as suggested by the manufacturer.
(DOEs) (considering different geometry depositions,
layer thicknesses and fill densities) and subsequently
Design of experiments
subjected to mechanical tensile testing in accordance
with ASTM standards. Lastly, fracture zones and This study is based on the application of Taguchi
manufacturing defects in the specimens, such as poros- orthogonal array L9. The selected factors, their levels
ity, cracks and fibre/matrix adhesion, were studied and specific implications are described in Table 1.
using optical and scanning electron microscopy A schematic illustration of the used deposition
(SEM) in order to further analyse find a correlation geometries (grid, cubic and zigzag) is presented in
with the determined findings. Figure 2.
The previously described factors and levels were
selected to develop the DOEs using Taguchi method-
Methodology
ology in order to have a wide range of combinations, as
Experimental planning was developed based on a shown in Table 2.
DOEs by Taguchi methodology. This planning guaran- Different printing tests were carried out to establish
tees the quality of the samples and collects significant the appropriate parameters and to obtain an optimal
data with the minimum possible number of repetitions and standard finish. In order to achieve this, small
and can also determine the importance and contribu- cubes were made with different nozzle diameters,
tion of each factor. There are different factors in addi- such as 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 mm. In the same order, a
tive manufacturing processes that influence the lower printing speed was identified as a priority and
mechanical properties of the samples made by FDM, therefore, a longer manufacturing time to comply
such as the material properties of the base plate, with the proposed finish, selecting the 0.4 mm nozzle.
process conditions, treatments and equipment parame- During the manufacture of the cubes, it was possible to
ters. This study is mainly focussed on the influence in identify that the printing was being affected by other
tensile mechanical properties of three factors: deposi- parameters, such as the room temperature and the tem-
tion geometry, layer thickness and fill density perature of the extruder. For this reason, a maximum
(percentage). room temperature of 18 C and an extruder tempera-
ture of 200 C were established during the manufactur-
Materials and specimens manufacture ing process of the samples. Nine cubes were
Bamboofill composite filament from the company manufactured considering the established factors and
ColorFabb (Netherlands) was selected to manufacture levels in the DOEs, as shown in Figure 3.

Table 1. Factors and levels chosen in this study with their respective justification.

Factors Levels Justification

Deposition geometry Grid–cubic–zigzag Three deposition geometries offered by the software Ultimaker
CURA were chosen, which can obtain a high influence during
tensile testing.
Layer thickness (mm) 0.10–0.15–0.20 This parameter is directly related to the diameter of the extruder.
In this study these three dimensions were chosen since a larger
one may cause nozzle obstruction.
Fill density (%) 50–75–100 These three filling densities were chosen to observe if there is
linearity in the properties in percentages greater than 50%.
4 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 0(0)

Figure 2. Selected deposition strategies: (a) grid, (b) cubic, and (c) zigzag.

Table 2. Combinations for the DOEs. Scanning electron microscopy

Combination Deposition Layer Fill The adhesion between the matrix and the fibres was
label geometry thickness (mm) density (%) analysed using SEM. The equipment used for this anal-
ysis was a JEOL Scanning Electron Microscope JSM-
G-10-50 Grid 0.10 50
6510LV. The samples were sectioned and gold coated
G-15-75 Grid 0.15 75
G-20-100 Grid 0.20 100
prior to the analysis. A series of acquired images of
C-10-75 Cubic 0.10 75 magnification between 25X and 500X are presented.
C-15-100 Cubic 0.15 100
C-20-50 Cubic 0.20 50 Optical microscopy
Z-10-100 Zigzag 0.10 100
Z-15-50 Zigzag 0.15 50
For the morphology analysis, representative samples
Z-20-75 Zigzag 0.20 75 were manufactured, embedded into a polyester resin
and levelled using an automatic polishing device. For
each sample, micrographs from different regions were
Experimental testing acquired using a ZEISS Axio Observer 7 microscope.
No considerable variations in morphology were
The composite material was analysed by subjecting the noticed in micrographs of different magnification
specimens to uniaxial tension in a MTS Insight 100 level between various areas on the same sample.
testing system according to ASTM D638-10.31 This
type of mechanical testing consisted in subjecting a
specimen to a constantly increasing (i.e. static) uniaxial Results and discussion
load until failure occurs. For the resulting elongation,
an extensometer was used with an established distance
Tensile testing
in the test area of 57 mm. The process had a test speed Predictions of strength, Young’s modulus and strain
of 5 mm/min and an initial strain rate of 0.1 mm/mm according to the combination of the layer thickness
per minute. and fill density are presented in Figure 4. The cubic
A DOE was carried out considering the maximum deposition geometry was established as a fixed variable
average strength, Young’s modulus and strain for each for strength and Young’s modulus, while for strain,
combination. Additionally, an analysis of variance zigzag geometry was selected instead as a fixed value
(ANOVA) was applied, which evaluates the variance because it obtained a better behaviour for this mechan-
between the different studied groups in order to ical property.
observe the general effects of each parameter of Figure 5 shows the average stress vs. strain curves
the manufacturing process on the final properties. for the 9 manufactured bamboo fibre/PLA specimen
A measure of robustness is the identification of combinations compared with values of 3D printed
control factors of the process, which for the purposes PLA specimens, which were obtained from tensile test-
of this study, are the fill density, layer thickness and ing by Cruz et al.32 It can be observed that there is a
deposition geometry. The dynamics of a DOEs using tendency of ductile failure.
Taguchi is to vary the values of these control factors in Figure 6 shows the average values for the different
such a way that it is reflected in the response of the proposed combinations in the DOE. Each bar corre-
design and to observe and qualify the degree of influ- sponds to the average of the manufactured specimens
ence both in the mean of the response and in the with their respective standard deviations. Figure 6(a)
variance. shows that a higher ultimate tensile stress was recorded
Taborda-R
ıos et al. 5

Figure 3. Manufactured combinations of the DOEs.

for experiment number 5, whose levels are cubic, Microscopy analysis

0.15 mm and 100%, corresponding to the factors of
In order to closely study the behaviour of the interface
deposition geometry, layer thickness and fill density,
between the fibre and the matrix, the tested specimens
respectively. Figure 6(b) shows the average elastic mod-
were taken to a scanning electron microscope in order
ulus of each combination. It is observed that the mod-
ulus of elasticity tends to vary slightly (increasing and to analyse the obtained fracture surfaces. Figures 7 and
decreasing). For the samples of combinations 1 to 3, 8 present optical microscopy and SEM images showing
the elastic modulus increased by 1.46%, 4.1% and the alignment of the fibres, which are randomly orient-
18.22%, respectively. The combinations 4, 5 and 6 pre- ed in the matrix material; this agrees with a previous
sented an increase of 21.24%, 38.44% and 12.06%, study on bamboo fibre/PLA composites.29 It is possible
respectively, while the samples of combination 7 pre- to assume that there is little adhesion between PLA and
sented a slight increase of 7.44%. On the other hand, bamboo fibres, which can allow the detachment of the
the combinations 8 and 9 presented a slight decrease of fibres. It can be assumed that voids were created within
2.84% and 7.43%. The average maximum strain of the the material during extrusion, which became stress con-
specimens is shown in Figure 6(c). Although the com- centration areas and allowed the initiation of cracks.
bination nine obtained a greater strain with a value of Cracks can grow rapidly during testing until reaching a
0.0138 (mm/mm), the difference between all tested critical length that leads to sudden failure. This failure
combinations shows a variation about 1%. In general, mechanism can be associated with the presence of
the increase in strength and Young’s modulus was evi- porosity, cracks and local deformations, since an exter-
dent when the percentage of fill density in the sample nal crack or internal defect can cause failure before it
increased. This is expected according to different reaches its maximum strength.
authors because the internal geometry of the pieces The low adhesion between the fibres and the PLA
can affect and lead to failure.33–35 can be observed in Figure 9(a) and (b). Sliding of the
6 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 0(0)

Figure 4. Surface graphs with fixed cubic geometry for (a) strength, (b) Young’s modulus and with fixed zigzag geometry for (c) strain
results.

fibres and the spacing between the matrix and the rein- which indicates poor adhesion in the composite speci-
forcing material is present, which leads to fibres not men. This delamination after printing could be caused
having a reinforcing behaviour and subsequently fail- by various reasons, such as internal stresses, dilation,
ure. This may be due to a possible lack of a surface retraction and humidity. This composite material is
treatment of the fibres to eliminate hemicellulose, 100% natural therefore will tend to absorb moisture.
lignin, pectin and general material covering the fibres, The delamination presented in these composites can be
such as waxes and oils, causing a decrease in the ability an important factor in the failure of the material,
to transfer applied stresses. In the specimens, there is because low adhesion of layers allows the initiation
little distribution and lack of absorption of the fibres in and growth of cracks, leading to sudden fracture.
the matrix. This can be verified in the slight separation The results of the carried out study are coherent
between the interfaces of the fibre and matrix. with the mechanical properties observed in the speci-
Moreover, the surfaces of the fibres provide a clean mens subjected to tensile testing. Furthermore, relative-
appearance (without PLA residues) and the polymer ly low strength values were found compared with the
does not present deformations around the fibres. values supplied by different manufacturers of PLA,
Figure 9(c) and (d) indicates several voids and which allows to deduce that the interface is not
porosity (black dots) on the failure surface area that strong enough and mechanical failure occurs between
were caused by the extraction of fibres during the load the reinforcement/matrix and between layers (adhesive
application. During the experimental procedure the failure). This behaviour makes the transfer of rein-
porosity tended to show superficial morphological dif- forcement properties to the matrix ineffective.
ferences in the matrix, which was only observed in There are other causes that could have affected the
some of the first manufactured specimens. This can results, such as the direction of the geometry deposition
be assumed as a possible cause that may have limited during the manufacturing process of the specimens, as
the specimens to reach their maximum strength. On the explained by Bagsik et al.36 In this study, which
other hand, small internal fractures are also observed, focussed on the tensile behaviour of a ULTEMVR 9085
as shown in the bottom image of Figure 9(e), which polymer, it was concluded that the obtained results
means that this did exhibit a good adhesion of the presented a dependence on the geometry with respect
printed layers. Figure 9(f) shows separation of layers, to the manufacturing orientation. Additionally, the
Taborda-R
ıos et al. 7

Figure 5. Comparison of stress vs. strain curves of manufactured bamboo fibre/PLA specimens and printed specimens made of neat
PLA.

layers have an important role due to the fact that been little adhesion between both materials. This agrees
increasing the layer thickness results in better mechan- with theories presented by other researchers, who claim
ical properties. By increasing the layer thickness, the that natural fibres are hydrophilic in nature and have
width of the filament is also increased and the low resistance to moisture and incompatible with
number of joints between layers is reduced, which can hydrophobic polymers.37,38 This incompatibility results
result in fewer stress concentrators and hence obtain in a weak interface between the materials, which leads
greater strength.36 It is also possible that, the larger to a reduction in the mechanical properties of the
the layer thickness, the more cooling time the material composite.
undergoes, which can result in a greater adhesion
between the layers. Signal noise
The final properties of the composite depend on the
properties of the materials that comprise it and the In a Taguchi design, noise factors can be conducted to
proportion in which they are present. However, it induce variability to take place and, from the results,
was found that the strength of the bamboo fibre and determine an optimal configuration of control factors
the PLA separately, exceed the values obtained from that cause the process or product to be robust, or resis-
the evaluated composite in the order of 96% and 43%, tant to deviation from the noise factors.39 Greater
respectively; this agrees with previous studies on a sim- values of the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) detect control
ilar material.29 According to this, it is evident that there factor configurations that minimise the influence of the
is no increase in its tensile strength with the addition of noise factors. The S/N ratio determines how the
a reinforcement of 20% bamboo fibres. It is assumed response changes relative to the nominal or intended
that the reinforcing material in the PLA has not been value under various noise conditions.40 For static cases,
perfectly impregnated by the latter and that there has four S/N ratios are considered: larger is better, nominal
8 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 0(0)

Figure 6. Average values for the different combinations proposed in the DOE (a) strength, (b) Young’s modulus and (c) strain.

Figure 7. Optical images showing the orientation of fibres in the material.

is best, nominal is best (default) and smaller is better. results are evaluated based on their increase or decrease
For this Taguchi design, the S/N ‘larger is better’ was with respect to the average of the output response. In
selected, whose goal is to maximise the response.41 Figure 10(a), it can be observed that the levels with
Figure 10 shows the signal noise of the mean data, higher effect in the process are the cubic geometric,
which consists in observing the influence of each level 0.15 mm layer thickness and a fill density of 100%.
on the variance of the response. It is evident that none This indicates that the previous levels are those that
of the factors has a linear behaviour. Therefore, the have a significant influence on the final strength in
Taborda-R
ıos et al. 9

Figure 8. SEM images showing the orientation of fibres in the material.

Figure 9. Detected defects in the analysed material through SEM: (a) and (b) low adhesion, (c) and (d) voids and porosity, (e) internal
fractures and (f) layer separation.

the tested specimens, since these exceed the mean respectively. The layer thickness of 0.10 mm and
values (central line). The levels that are below the aver- 0.20 mm show a small decrease of 0.58% and 0.81%,
age data represent a negative influence on the process respectively, while the one of 0.15 mm shows a slight
and final response. The factor of cubic deposition increase of 1.39%, presenting greater influence in the
geometry presents a slight increase of 1.6% with specimens and their mechanical properties in tensile
respect to the average data, and the grid and zigzag loading. Fill densities of 75% and 100% show increases
show a small decrease of 0.73% and 0.81%, of 0.54% and 0.96%, respectively. On the other hand,
10 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 0(0)

Figure 10. Main effects for noise signal ratio for (a) strength, (b) Young’s modulus and (c) strain.

the 50% fill density showed a decrease of 1.55%, which cubic deposition geometry, layer thickness of 0.15 mm
indicates that the greater the amount of fill, the and a 100% fill density. Although it shows a non-linear
greater the strength of the manufactured specimens. behaviour between the analysed levels, a more pro-
Figure 10(b) shows the output response for the nounced influence is presented in the geometries and
Young’s modulus of the specimens. The levels with a fill density, which was to be expected according to the
positive influence with respect to the average values are mechanical and variance results previously analysed.
Taborda-R
ıos et al. 11

Table 3. Design response for S/N ratios of strength, Young’s modulus and strain.

Deposition geometry Layer thickness Fill density

Strength Young’s modulus Strain Strength Young’s modulus Strain Strength Young’s modulus Strain

Delta 0.63 1.928 0.60 0.57 0.384 0.11 0.65 1.347 0.25
Classification 2 1 1 3 3 3 1 2 2

Table 4. ANOVA of analysed factors: strength, Young’s modulus and strain.

P-value F-value

Factors Strength Young’s modulus Strain Strength Young’s modulus Strain

Deposition geometry 0.763 0.025 0.106 0.31 39.22 8.27

Layer thickness 0.802 0.394 0.806 0.25 1.54 0.22
Fill density 0.076 0.043 0.459 0.31 22.41 1.22

Cubic deposition geometry factor exhibited a remark- classification indicates the relative effect on the
able increase of 16.02% with respect to the average, response factors. Classification 1 is for the highest
showing a positive influence of this manufacturing delta value (filling density), 2 for the second highest
strategy. However, the grid and zigzag deposition (deposition geometry) and the third classification was
geometries presented decreases in the order of 2.28% for the layer thickness.
and 13.74%, respectively. The layer thickness factor It can be observed that the factors that influence the
showed for 0.10 mm and 0.15 mm a slight increase of output responses of the strength is the fill density, while
0.28% and 2.84% proportionally with respect to the for the Young’s modulus and strain is the deposition
average data. On the other hand, for the layer thickness geometry. However, in all factors and levels analysed
of 0.20 mm, there was a decrease of 3.10%. It is possi- there is no significant effect on strength and strain, due
ble to say that due to the relatively slight increases and to its small difference between each level, as shown in
decreases there is no significant influence of this factor Table 4. This table show the ANOVA that determines
in the manufacturing samples. The 100% fill density which factors have statistically significant effects on the
presents an increase of 13.03%, while 50% and 75% response.
fill densities present a decrease of 7.76% and 5.24%, A global significance F-value is used to determine
respectively. The main effects in the output results of level of significant between the variables. A sufficiently
the DOE for strain are presented in Figure 10(c). It is large F-value indicates that the model is significant.
notable that the levels that show a greater influence are The F-value is used to calculate the P-value, establish-
the zigzag deposition geometry, 0.20 mm layer thick- ing a reliability level of 95%, which is used determine
ness and a filling density of 100%. For the geometry the statistical significance of the model. If the P-value is
factor, zigzag increased by 0.55% with respect to the less than or equal to 0.05, it means that the results are
mean of the signal noise data and showed a small statistically significant.42 According to the previous
decrease of 0.49% and 1.04% for the grid and cubic approach it is shown that, for maximum strength and
geometries, respectively. For the layer thickness, the strain, none of the levels indicates a significant result
case of 0.20 mm presented a slight increase of 0.15%. while for the Young’s modulus, and the filling density
On the other hand, for the thicknesses of 0.10 mm and and the manufacturing geometry do present significant
0.15 mm a decrease of 0.11% and 0.057% was results.
observed, respectively. For the fill density factor,
there is evidence for the 75% and 100% fill density
cases of a slight increase of 0.14% and 0.25%, respec-
Conclusions
tively, while 50% case shows a small decrease of In this research, a characterisation of a PLA matrix
0.39%. composite material reinforced with 20% recycled
The results of Delta and Classification for each bamboo fibre was carried out. The composite samples
factor (deposition geometry, layer thickness and filling) were manufactured according to a Taguchi design in
are presented in Table 3. Delta is the difference between order to observe the main effects that influenced the
the highest and lowest values for each factor and specimens made using additive manufacturing.
12 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 0(0)

• The deposition strategy factor with cubic geometry ORCID iDs

presents an increase of 1.6% in tensile strength with Patricia Zambrano-Robledo https://orcid.org/0000-0002-
respect to the data average, while grid and zigzag 9491-0069
strategies presented a decrease of 0.73% and Carlos Garza https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2202-9755
0.81%, respectively. It is evident that the level with
more considerable effect on the output response is References
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