3D printing of high density polyethylene by fused filament fabrication

Schirmeister, Carl G.; Hees, Timo; Licht, Erik H; Mülhaupt, Rolf

doi:10.1016/j.addma.2019.05.003

Cited by 141 publications

(155 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Regarding the mechanical properties of 3D printed HDPE specimens, there is no complete research or literature available yet due to the low printability of the HDPE material. The overall results of the current study for the virgin HDPE mechanical properties are in good agreement with the literature [5,18,19].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…All these parameters are crucial for the economy of the recycling process and the material's behavior after it is recycled. In literature, only a few studies are available on the mechanical properties of bulk and recycled HDPE [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] and HDPE composites [12][13][14][15][16][17][18], even less on the mechanical properties of HDPE 3D printed specimens [19], and no literature is available on the recycling of FFF HDPE specimens.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sustainable Additive Manufacturing: Mechanical Response of High-Density Polyethylene over Multiple Recycling Processes

2021

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Polymer recycling is nowadays in high-demand due to an increase in polymers demand and production. Recycling of such materials is mostly a thermomechanical process that modifies their overall mechanical behavior. The present research work focuses on the recyclability of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), one of the most recycled materials globally, for use in additive manufacturing (AM). A thorough investigation was carried out to determine the effect of the continuous recycling on mechanical, structural, and thermal responses of HDPE polymer via a process that isolates the thermomechanical treatment from other parameters such as aging, contamination, etc. Fused filament fabrication (FFF) specimens were produced from virgin and recycled materials and were experimentally tested and evaluated in tension, flexion, impact, and micro-hardness. A thorough thermal and morphological analysis was also performed. The overall results of this study show that the mechanical properties of the recycled HDPE polymer were generally improved over the recycling repetitions for a certain number of recycling steps, making the HDPE recycling a viable option for circular use. Repetitions two to five had the optimum overall mechanical behavior, indicating a significant positive impact of the HDPE polymer recycling aside from the environmental one.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Additive Manufacturing: Mechanical Response of High-Density Polyethylene over Multiple Recycling Processes

2021

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“… 40 In addition, semi-crystalline polymer printing includes issues such as shrinkage/warpage, build plate adhesion, and post-print removal. 28 , 41 Adding thermally stable inorganic fillers to semi-crystalline polymers minimize shrinkage and make products dimensionally stable. 42 The composite components, on the other hand, show a considerable variation in thermal properties and experience distinct thermal cycles during the subsequent processing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three-Dimensional Printed Lightweight Composite Foams

et al. 2020

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The goal of this paper is to enable three-dimensional (3D) printed lightweight composite foams by blending hollow glass microballoons (GMBs) with high density polyethylene (HDPE). To that end, lightweight feedstock for printing syntactic foam composites is developed. The blend for this is prepared by varying the GMB content (20, 40, and 60 volume %) in HDPE for filament extrusion, which is subsequently used for 3D printing. The rheological properties and the melt flow index (MFI) of blends are investigated for identifying suitable printing parameters. It is observed that the storage and loss modulus, as well as complex viscosity, increase with increasing GMB content, whereas MFI decreases. Further, the coefficient of thermal expansion of HDPE and foam filaments decreases with increasing GMB content, thereby lowering the thermal stresses in prints, which promotes the reduction in warpage. The mechanical properties of filaments are determined by subjecting them to tensile tests, whereas 3D printed samples are tested under tensile and flexure tests. The tensile modulus of the filament increases with increasing GMB content (8–47%) as compared to HDPE and exhibit comparable filament strength. 3D printed foams show a higher specific tensile and flexural modulus as compared to neat HDPE, making them suitable candidate materials for weight-sensitive applications. HDPE having 60% by volume GMB exhibited the highest modulus and is 48.02% higher than the printed HDPE. Finally, the property map reveals a higher modulus and comparable strength against injection- and compression-molded foams. Printed foam registered 1.8 times higher modulus than the molded samples. Hence, 3D printed foams have the potential for replacing components processed through conventional manufacturing processes that have limitations on geometrically complex designs, lead time, and associated costs.

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“…High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is a polyolefin thermoplastic already used in 3D printing by Schirmeister et al [ 13 ]. Despite the existing challenges (shrinkage, voiding and warpage) in the 3D printing of HDPE using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), they could define appropriate 3D printing parameters, such as nozzle temperature and extrusion rate, to obtain HDPE parts with improved tensile strength and Young’s modulus [ 13 ]. However, softer thermoplastic polymers than the commonly used in 3D printing, such as the acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and PLA, still need to be explored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Flexible and Conductive Immiscible Thermoplastic/Elastomer Monofilament for Smart Textiles Applications Using 3D Printing

et al. 2020

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3D printing utilized as a direct deposition of conductive polymeric materials onto textiles reveals to be an attractive technique in the development of functional textiles. However, the conductive fillers—filled thermoplastic polymers commonly used in the development of functional textiles through 3D printing technology and most specifically through Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process—are not appropriate for textile applications as they are excessively brittle and fragile at room temperature. Indeed, a large amount of fillers is incorporated into the polymers to attain the percolation threshold increasing their viscosity and stiffness. For this reason, this study focuses on enhancing the flexibility, stress and strain at rupture and electrical conductivity of 3D-printed conductive polymer onto textiles by developing various immiscible polymer blends. A phase is composed of a conductive polymer composite (CPC) made of a carbon nanotubes (CNT) and highly structured carbon black (KB)- filled low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and another one of propylene-based elastomer (PBE) blends. Two requirements are essential to create flexible and highly conductive monofilaments for 3D-printed polymers onto textile materials applications. First, the co-continuity of both the thermoplastic and the elastomer phases and the location of the conductive fillers in the thermoplastic phase or at the interface of the two immiscible polymers are necessary to preserve the flexibility of the elastomer while decreasing the global amount of charges in the blends. In the present work based on theoretical models, when using a two-step melt process, the KB and CNT particles are found to be both preferentially located at the LDPE/PBE interface. Moreover, in the case of the two-step extrusion, SEM characterization showed that the KB particles were located in the LDPE while the CNT were mainly at the LDPE/PBE interface and TEM analysis demonstrated that KB and CNT nanoparticles were in LDPE and at the interface. For one-step extrusion, it was found that both KB and CNT are in the PBE and LDPE phases. These selective locations play a key role in extending the co-continuity of the LDPE and PBE phases over a much larger composition range. Therefore, the melt flow index and the electrical conductivity of monofilament, the deformation under compression, the strain and stress and the electrical conductivity of the 3D-printed conducting polymer composite onto textiles were significantly improved with KB and CNT-filled LDPE/PBE blends compared to KB and CNT-filled LDPE separately. The two-step extrusion processed 60%(LDPE16.7% KB + 4.2% CNT)/40 PBE blends presented the best properties and almost similar to the ones of the textile materials and henceforth, could be a better material for functional textile development through 3D printing onto textiles.

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3D printing of high density polyethylene by fused filament fabrication

Cited by 141 publications

References 44 publications

Sustainable Additive Manufacturing: Mechanical Response of High-Density Polyethylene over Multiple Recycling Processes

Sustainable Additive Manufacturing: Mechanical Response of High-Density Polyethylene over Multiple Recycling Processes

Three-Dimensional Printed Lightweight Composite Foams

Development of Flexible and Conductive Immiscible Thermoplastic/Elastomer Monofilament for Smart Textiles Applications Using 3D Printing

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