The Effects of Printing Parameters on Mechanical Properties of a Rapidly Manufactures Mechanical Ventilator

With the advent of SARS-COV-2, industry and academy have been mobilizing themselves to find technical solutions to satisfy the high demand for hospital supplies. This work aims to study the manufacturing process by melting and depositing thermoplastic material (three-dimensional printing) to build a mechanical ventilator. We center the methodology of this work on the observation of good practices for the procedure of printing plastic parts for medical and hospital use, aiming to guarantee mechanical resistance and satisfy sanitary restrictions. At first, we studied materials for manufacturing parts for application in the medical-hospital environment. In a second moment, a study of the mechanical resistance of specimens for traction test was developed, based on the ASTM D638 standard, printed with different directions of material deposition and using different types of thermoplastics with potential use in medical systems such as PLA, ABS, and PETG. In a third moment the mechanism of a mechanical ventilator in Solidwork was created, this mechanism automated an AMBU using a rack and gear system, the properties of the PLA material (of the second moment) were applied to the gear (it is the most critical part of the mechanism) and the effects of torsion on the gear were simulated (stepper motor). Finally, a 3D printing mechanism was created. For the production of these specimens, we employed the Simplify 3d software. Optimized settings were suggested for the deposition of the thermoplastic material, considering a reduction in speed to 30 mm/s, a layer height of 0.100 mm, 100% filling, and a line overlap of 60% to avoid voids at the edges of the pieces, within order to increase the mechanical resistance. The observed results are satisfactory and are under the analyzed bibliography, indicating that adjustments in parameters and configurations of material deposition influence the mechanical strength of the parts.