Optimization study of FDM 3d printing for the presentation of the architectural models

The prototyping of physical models by 3d printing is today one of the most common methods of presentation or composition of architectural projects, both in the academic and professional fields. In particular, the 3d printing with the FDM method based on PLA is diffused in several laboratories and studies, offering a high-precision physical model of remarkable resistance. Given its increasing use, also a lot of scientific literature has deepened its qualities, practices, and aesthetics, as well as identifying material compositions and procedural expedients increasingly efficient from the ecological point of view, therefore, the study proposes an analysis and the verification of the actual sustainability of the process, focusing phase of estimation, project management, and actual extrusion, in an exclusively ecological perspective, through experimentation and comparison of data. The analysis has led to the specific deepening of the techniques of infill of the printed volume, which affect in particular the consumption of material and its efficiency, therefore identifying optimal solutions and finding critical issues to be taken into account during the life of the prototype.