Fabrication of Polylactic Acid/Wax/Polyethylene Glycol Composite Filament for Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)
Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an emerging technology that can be used to build a complex 3D object with low cost for prototyping, modeling or production via solidification or deposition. Waxes are usually used in the manufacturing of 3D objects specifically involving molding and casting. The lo...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/29941/2/Fabrication%20of%20Polylactic%20Acid%20Wax%20Polyethylene%20Glycol%20Composite.pdf |
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| Summary: | Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an emerging technology that can be used to build a complex 3D object with low cost for prototyping, modeling or production via solidification or deposition. Waxes are usually used in the manufacturing of 3D objects specifically involving molding and casting. The lost-wax casting process is extensively utilized for manufacturing metal alloy objects from automotive parts to fine jewellery. However, waxes are only useful for the manufacturing of molds and not the end products. Therefore, the aims of this study to develop a new build material for fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer by utilizing polylactic acid (PLA) as the matrix, wax as filler material and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as the plasticizer. The effects of wax and polyethylene glycol loading on tensile properties and characteristics of PLA/wax composites were investigated. Tensile properties of PLA/wax composites were determined according to ASTM D638 and for characterization, the morphology of the composites was analyzed via Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), water absorption (ASTM D570), melting point determination (MS-ISO 3146:2004) and melt flow index (MFI) (ASTM D1238). The tensile properties of PLA/wax composites decreased with the increase of the wax loading. Results showed significant improvement in elongation at break while tensile strength and elastic moduli decreased with increasing PEG content. The SEM micrographs show the PLA phase becoming discontinuous as the wax loading increases. The addition of PEG improves the compatibility between PLA and wax and the composites become more homogenous. PLA/wax with addition 5 wt.% and 8 wt.% PEG was selected since it showed good tensile properties and characteristics. Both composites were successfully extruded at 230°C in filament production with filament diameter 1.73 mm (PLA/wax/5 wt.% PEG) and 1.71 mm (PLA/wax/8 wt.% PEG). A cube was successfully printed with printing and platform temperature 180°C and 50°C respectively via FDM by using these two composites. The quality of 3D cube printed using the selected composites was comparable with the control (commercial PLA filament and neat PLA filament). However, some layers show poor bonding between adjacent layer and layer thickness variation defects that cause by inconsistent filament diameter. Therefore, it is important to further the study on optimization of extrusion parameters during filament production to produce consistent filament diameter since inconsistent diameter will affect the printing quality. |
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