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Journal of Polymer & Composites Original Research Special issue

Development and Mechanical Characterization of Polymer based Bio Composite Filaments for FDM Applications

  1. Sathish Kumar Adapa Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aditya Institute of Technology and Management, Chakipalle
  2. Kelli Durga Prasad Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aditya Institute of Technology and Management, Chakipalle
  3. Suman Pandipati Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aditya Institute of Technology and Management, Chakipalle
  4. Muddada Venkatesh Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aditya Institute of Technology and Management, Chakipalle
  5. Venkata Maruti Prasad S Department of Chemistry, Aditya Institute of Technology and Management, Chakipalle
  6. Satya Prasad Maddula Department of Aero Space Engineering, School of Technology, GITAM, Hyderabad
  7. Rhoda Afriyie Mensah Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Lulea University of Technology

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is an advanced fabrication process capable of producing complex and intricate components to meet diverse industrial and customer demands. For small-scale producers and researchers, FDM is the most straightforward, affordable, and easily accessible of the several AM processes. The majority of conventional polymer feedstocks used in FDM lack sufficient mechanical strength and thermal stability, which limits their use in load-bearing or structural components. This effort aims to design and characterize a bio composite filament for the FDM method that is sustainable and based on polymers. An NaOH solution was used to chemically treat coir fibers in order to eliminate surface deposition. This surface enhancement was thought to have improved the fiber's adherence to the matrix. To achieve uniform dispersion and high interfacial compatibility, treated fibers are next combined with PLA and a few additives via internal melt mixing. A controlled filament extrusion system was used to produce the filament, and FDM printing was used to create specimens for mechanical testing. The NaOH treatment successfully altered the coir fiber surface, enhancing mechanical interlocking and chemical bonding with the PLA matrix, according to mechanical characterization. The PLA-coir bio composite’s improvement in tensile strength from virgin PLA (60.55 MPa) to 67.14 MPa validates the treated natural fiber's capacity to reinforce. On the other hand, because of the material's intrinsic porosity and the local stress concentration brought on by the fibers in the printed structures, several of the compressive strength values showed a minor drop when compared to pristine PLA. Additionally, their surface smoothness and dimensional accuracy were adequate for FDM applications. As a result, the generated PLA-coir bio composite filaments are environmentally benign, biodegradable, and compatible with any standard FDM equipment without necessitating any changes to the FDM processing settings. These results highlight natural fiber-supported PLA as a practical, environmentally friendly substitute for synthetic polymer filaments, enabling small-scale vendors and researchers to produce lightweight, sustainable parts with thousands of times greater tensile performance and environmental impact.

Keywords

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