3D printing of flexible parts using EVA material

In the fused filament fabrication (FFF) process, filament buckling occurs during the processing of elastomers. Elastomer filament buckles between the rollers and liquefier head due to flexibility hence make difficult elastomer processing and extrusion through as mall nozzle. In this paper, ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), an elastomer has been processed through the in-house developed CNC assisted material deposition tool (MDT). Instead of the filament,the developed system processes the material in the pellet form, which overcomes the limitations of FFF process in elastomer processing. An experimental study has been carried out to find the suitable set of process parameters setting for part fabrication. The fabricated parts show the flexibility similar to rubber, which is suitable for various end-use applications. The present study outcome shows that EVA material has the potential for additive manufacturing of flexible parts.