Exploring magnetic polylactic acid composites using combined sol-gel and co-blending methods for developing 3D printing filament

Abstract

In this paper, we experimented to determine the ideal ratio of magnetic properties/PLA composites for creating magnetic filaments for FDM 3D printing. To achieve this, we created 15 samples using the control variates method, analyzing factors such as the type of material used, the powder size of the magnetic substance, and PLA pellet size. Also, Our approach utilized a novel method of combining the sol-gel and co-blending methods to produce uniform and high-induced magnetic field strength properties in the magnetic substance/PLA binary composites. By comparing Maximum tesla measurement results, we determined that using NdFeB is preferable to Fe3O4 in our particular conditions. We found that the composites’ magnetic properties depend only on the materials and mass ratio of the magnetic substance, with the ideal ratio being 2: (4-6): 8 for binders, magnetic substances, and PLA, respectively. Finally, based on our findings, we produced a sample filament and suggested possible applications.