Development of a Composite Filament Based on Polypropylene and Garlic Husk Particles for 3D Printing Applications

Abstract

Lignocellulosic waste materials are among the most abundant raw materials on Earth, and they have been widely studied as natural additives in materials, especially for polymer composites, with interesting results when it comes to improving physiochemical properties. The main components of these materials are cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, as well as small amounts of other polysaccharides, proteins, and other extractives. Several kinds of lignocellulosic materials, mainly fibers, have been evaluated in polymer matrices, and recently, the use of particles has increased due to their high surface area. Garlic is a spice seed that generates a waste husk that does not have applications, and there are no reports of industrial use of this kind of lignocellulosic material. Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is a polymer processing technique that allows for obtaining complex shapes that are hard to obtain with ordinary techniques. The use of composites based on synthetic polymers and lignocellulosic materials is a growing field of research. In the present work, the elaboration and evaluation of 3D-printed polypropylene–garlic husk particle (PP-GHP) composites are reported. First, the process of obtaining a filament by means of a single extrusion was carried out, using different GHP contents in the composites. Once the filament was obtained, it was taken to a 3D printer to obtain probes that were characterized using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was performed with the aim of evaluating the thermal behavior of the 3D-printed PP-GHP composites. According to the obtained results, the crystallization process and thermal stability of the PP-GHP composites were modified with the presence of GHP compared with pristine PP. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) showed that the addition of GHP decreased the storage modulus of the printed composites and that the Tan δ peak width increased, which was associated with an increase in toughness and a more complex structure of the 3D-printed composites. X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that the addition of GHP favored the presence of the β-phase of PP in the printed composites.