Characterization of chemical surface finishing with hot acetone vapours on ABS parts fabricated by FFF

Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is one of the most widespread Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies of polymers but its poor surface finish limits its application. Researches in literature propose chemical treatments as the most effective to enhance the surface finish, however a complete characterization of the process is not provided. This paper investigates the effects of hot dimethyl ketone vapours on ABS surface fabricated through FFF. The aim is to characterize and optimize the process to achieve a good surface finish within a stable and robust process. The experiments were conducted on surfaces with different initial roughness and the effects of acetone concentration, treatment time and distance between the target surface and acetone bath were investigated. The effects were evaluated in terms of roughness reduction and dimensional variation. Results allowed to identify a stable and replicable process able to achieve an average roughness reduction of 98% within a negligible dimensional variation.