Authors: J. Martins, M. S. Correia, H. A. Almeida, J. C. Vasco

Additive manufacturing plays an important role in the current context since it enables to create rapid prototypes for visualization, as well as to verify the model´s functionality. In additive manufacturing, the support material generated to assist in the building process has high importance in the time consumed and in the process cost, in some situations, these support structures are inserted into the generated physical model itself. The main objective of this research work is the mechanical characterization of models/components that contain the support material generated during the construction of the desired final piece. In this exploratory study, from the data obtained, it is possible to conclude that the support material does not always contribute to the increase of the mechanical resistance of the produced parts.

J. Martins¹ | M. S. Correia^1,2 | H. A. Almeida¹ | J. C. Vasco^1,3
1Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão de Leiria, Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Leiria, Portugal.
2CEMMPRE – Centro de Engenharia Mecânica, Materiais e Processos, Universidade de Coimbra,
3IPC/I3N, Universidade do Minho, Guimarães, Portugal