Kadok J., Gaulain T., Vergne C., Choquet P., Bulou S.
Progress in Additive Manufacturing, 2026
Objects manufactured via fused filament fabrication (FFF) often suffer from reduced mechanical performance due to weak interlayer bonding and limited adhesion in multi-material parts. To address these limitations, a custom dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma torch is integrated into a commercial FFF printer, enabling in situ atmospheric-pressure plasma treatments during the printing process. These treatments showed a significant enhancement in the fatigue resistance of polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) 3D-printed specimens. Moreover, introducing a small fraction of acetylene into the torch lead to the deposition of plasma-polymerized coating which strongly improved the adhesion between thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and polylactic acid (PLA) (from ~ 0.5 to ≥ 0.7 MPa). This study demonstrates that plasma-assisted FFF is a low-cost, versatile, and easy-to-implement method to enhance mechanical properties of printed objects. It opens promising routes for tailoring interlayer bonding, multi-material integration, and functional coatings in additive manufacturing.
