Total Newbie Question on material strength

I am trying to find out how structurally strong 3D printing is. I have a product in mind and need pulling strength from a hole drilled through the 3D printed object. Have there been tests done to determine x lbs of pulling strength before failure of the material? Thank you

3D printed parts are like wood. The material strength is going to be weakest on the axis that is being built up. If you care about strength, you need to orient the part so that the 'grain' works for your application.

Also there are so many variations in how an object is printed ( amount of infil, infill pattern, material used, layer thickness, bead diameter, printing temperature, printing speed to name a few) that you'll not find any answer that will necessarily be reproducible when you make the product. You may possibly find that one of the larger commercial printer makers like stratasys might have done some tests though.

Best you can do is print some parts and get them tested, then print again and test some more until things are reproducible. If the product is going to be used in a human safety context then be *really* carefull about consistency and over specifiy by a very good margin. Be prepared to back up your marketing claims with clear reproducible tests too as there will be a lot of claims not fit for purpose when you start marketing I expect.

Cheers,
Robin.

Thanks for the feedback.

I have looked through the different materials at Stratasys and will open a new thread on the FDM & Nylon 12 material to see if anyone is familiar with that.