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This paper aims to define the effect of specimen mesostructure on the monotonic tensile behavior and tensile-fatigue life of layered acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) components fabricated by fused deposition modeling (FDM).

Tensile tests were performed on FDM dogbone specimens with four different raster orientations according to ASTM standard D638-03. Resulting ultimate tensile stresses (UTS) for each raster orientation were used to compute the maximum stress for fatigue testing, i.e. 90, 75, 60 and 50 or 45 per cent nominal values of the UTS. Multiple specimens were subjected to tension – tension fatigue cycling with stress ratio of R = 0.10 in accordance with ASTM standard D7791-12.

Both tensile strength and fatigue performance exhibited anisotropic behavior. The longitudinal (0°) and default (+45/−45°) raster orientations performed significantly better than the diagonal (45°) or transverse (90°) orientations in regards to fatigue life, as displayed in the resulting Wohler curves.

Raster orientation has a significant effect on the fatigue performance of FDM ABS components. Aligning FDM fibers along the axis of the applied stress provides improved fatigue life. If the direction of applied stresses is not expected to be constant in given application, the default raster orientation is recommended.

This project provides knowledge to the limited work published on the fatigue performance of FDM ABS components. It provides S-N fatigue life results that can serve as a foundation for future work, combining experimental investigations with theoretical principles and the statistical analysis of data.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the correlation between the dynamic behavior of a full‐scale steel prototype and a small‐scale plastic model fabricated using fused deposition modeling (FDM).

Based on the use of a known input excitation, the small‐scale model is tested on a shake‐table. Experimental results are compared with results of a full prototype study and with computational models in an effort to assess the feasibility of testing small‐scale FDM models.

Time History Records present strong correlation with prototype data and are reproducible using computational methods. Matching the first natural frequency of the studied structure proved to be a large part of achieving the desired response.

Including the direct measurement of floor displacements will potentially highlight different aspects of model behavior not observed by recording accelerations only. Further investigation into the damping properties of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic is recommended towards further understanding the model response.

Although this paper is based on a simple structure, the benefits of layered manufacturing (LM) methods include speed and ease of generating geometrically complex solids. The implications of the success of this pilot study include the ease in which the dynamic response of complex structures can be assessed using small‐scale LM models.

This project obtained baseline information on the dynamic behavior of FDM plastic parts. It provides assessment of the value of using small‐scale LM models to accurately predict the dynamic response of structures subjected to earthquake excitation.