A comparative study of mechanical behavior of ABS material based on UVC sterilization for medical usage

This study aims to examine the mechanical properties of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene specimens using ASTM 638, 695, and 790. UVC radiation was also used as a sterilizing method. The fused deposition modeling of 3D-printed polymerize with 30% filling was used to manufacture 30 specimens for tensile, compression, and bending. Half of the specimens were treated with UVC, whereas the other half were not. The chosen dosage of 13.5 J/cm(2) with an exposure time of 48 min corresponds to 3650 sterilization treatments or 10 years of sterilization. The average ultimate stress in the tensile test, compression test, and bending test was 34.5 ± 7.4, 25.4 ± 0.5, and 24.5 ± 2.1 Mpa, respectively. The analysis of variance test shows that UVC radiation has a demonstrable influence on tensile specimens, with a P-value of 0.012, which is less than the significance threshold of 0.05. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected.