MUMBAI, India, April 17 -- Intellectual Property India has published a patent application (202531121438 A) filed by Asansol Engineering College, Asansol, West Bengal, on Dec. 4, 2025, for 'statistical modeling and importance of fused filament fabrication 3d printing parameters on the mechanical properties of pla and cellulose parts.'
Inventor(s) include Anish Deb; Dr. Debashis Sarkar; and Dr. Prosenjit Saha.
The application for the patent was published on April 17, under issue no. 16/2026.
According to the abstract released by the Intellectual Property India: "Additive manufacturing using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) has become an increasingly important method for fabricating components with biodegradable materials such as polylactic acid (PLA) composites reinforced with cellulose. The present research focuses on the development of a statistical model to investigate and optimize the effect of FDM process parameters on the mechanical properties of PLA-cellulose composites. Filaments were prepared with cellulose reinforcement and processed on an open-source FDM printer to produce tensile specimens designed in accordance with a modified ASTM D638 standard. To ensure reproducibility, three specimens were tested for each run under uniaxial tension using an electromechanical testing machine. The primary mechanical response evaluated was ultimate tensile strength (UTS), supported by observations of stiffness and failure characteristics. A Central Composite Design (CCD) within the framework of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to model the relationship between process parameters and mechanical performance. The three control factors considered were layer thickness, infill orientation, and number of shell perimeters, while other variables such as infill density, extrusion temperature, and printing speed were held constant. The quadratic regression model developed from CCD captured both main effects and interactions, with six replicates at the center point included to provide a reliable estimate of experimental error. Results indicate that infill orientation and layer thickness were the most significant factors influencing tensile strength, consistent with findings in prior studies on PLA composites. The addition of cellulose improved stiffness and interfacial bonding, although its influence on tensile strength depended strongly on parameter optimization. The statistical model demonstrated high predictive accuracy, confirming the suitability of CCD for reducing experimental effort while capturing complex parameter interactions. This study provides a systematic and eco-sustainable approach to tailoring the mechanical behavior of PLA-cellulose composites in FDM, offering valuable insights for engineering and biomedical applications that demand both biodegradability and mechanical reliability."
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
