Additive Manufacturing of Furniture Corner Guards Based on Thermoplastic Polyurethane Filament

Abstract

Furniture corners are the most vulnerable areas to be damaged by collisions or to cause injuries to children. In this study a furniture corner guard was developed using thermoplastic polyurethane filament (TPU) and fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing. First, the energy-absorption performance of cylindrical specimens with different printing parameters (infill pattern, filament hardness, and printing speed) was analysed using a quasi-static compression test. The experimental results showed that among the three infill patterns, the honeycomb pattern had the best energy-absorption performance, the gyroid pattern had the middle energy-absorption performance, and the linear pattern had the worst energy-absorption performance. The energy-absorption performance of the cylindrical specimen gradually increased with decreased filament hardness and decreased printing speed. Then, the furniture corner guard with buffer airbag was designed by SolidWorks software, and the prototype was additively manufactured using honeycomb infill pattern, Shore A 75 TPU filament, and 20 mm/s printing speed. The 3D-printed furniture corner guard had a smooth outer surface, free of print defects, and was custom-designed to fit the size and shape of the furniture corner to ensure a tight fit. The energy-absorption performance of 3D-printed furniture corner guard was about 90% in comparison to injection-molded PFC.