Development and characterization of natural fillers reinforced PLA filaments for 3d printing

Abstract

3D printing uses an additive manufacturing process for product newlinecreation. During this process, the items are constructed one layer at a time, using newlinea sequence of cross-sectional slices as the building blocks. The manufacturing newlinetechnique known as additive manufacturing can be carried out using a wide newlinevariety of processes. In this process, the material to be used is first deposited, newlinethen joined, and finally solidified. In this method, the material is built up in newlinesuccessive layers. Plastics, ceramics, and even metals can be employed in the newlinefabrication process of an additively manufactured object. Among the seven types newlineof additive manufacturing as listed by International Organization for newlineStandardization, Fused Deposition Modeling process is the widely used newlinetechnology owing to its simple operation. In the fused deposition modeling newlinetechnique, the material that is utilized the most frequently is synthetic plastics. newlineExamples of such materials include PLA, ABS and Nylon, amongst others. It is newlinepossible that the use of synthetic polymers will have substantial effects on the newlinesurrounding ecosystem. Therefore, the transition toward alternate biodegradable newlinematerials is something that is really necessary. newlineThis research intends to use the biodegradable polymer Polylactic newlineAcid (PLA) as a matrix owing to its maximum usage in additive manufacturing newlineand, as well as some natural fibers in the form of fine powder as reinforcement newlinefillers, such as Acacia Concinna and Orange Peel Powder. Based on the previous newlinestudies, the natural fibers were utilized less as reinforcement filler in PLA matrix newlineto develop the 3D printing filament. The filament was fabricated using the single newlinescrew extruder machine. The prepared filaments are characterized by FTIR, newlineXRD, TGA, Tensile testing, impact testing, flexural testing, surface morphology newlineand soil biodegradation tests. newline newline