Resistivity and Its Anisotropy Characterization of 3D-Printed Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Copolymer (ABS)/Carbon Black (CB) Composites

Abstract

Abstract:The rapid printing of 3D parts with desired electrical properties enables numerous applications. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) using conductive thermoplastic composites has been a valuable approach for such fabrication. The parts produced by FDM possess various controllable structural features, but the effects of the structural features on the electrical properties remain to be determined. This study investigated the effects of these features on the electrical resistivity and resistivity anisotropy of 3D-printed ABS/CB composites. The effects of the process parameters of FDM, including the layer thickness, raster width, and air gap, on the resistivity in both the vertical and horizontal directions for cubic samples were studied because the internal structure of the printed parts depended on those process parameters. The resistivities of printed parts in different parameter combinations were measured by an impedance analyzer and finite element models were created to investigate the relationship between the resistivity and the internal structure. The results indicated that the parameters remarkably affected the resistivity due to the influence of voids and the bonding condition between adjacent fibers. The resistivity in the vertical direction ranged from 70.40 ± 2.88 Ω·m to 180.33 ± 8.21 Ω·m, and the resistivity in the horizontal direction ranged from 41.91 ± 2.29 Ω·m to 58.35 ± 0.61 Ω·m at the frequency of 1 kHz. Moreover, by adjusting the resistivities in different directions, the resistivity anisotropy of the printed parts can be manipulated from 1.01 to 3.59. This research may serve as a reference to fabricate parts with sophisticated geometry with desired electrical resistivity and resistivity anisotropy.

Design and Characterization of Electrically Conductive Structures Additively Manufactured by Material Extrusion

“…Besides these material-specific variations, process-specific anisotropies in resistivity are also analyzed in several studies (see Table 1). Both factors of influence regarding geometry, e.g., build orientation [2,[22][23][24], and with regard to process are investigated, for instance, raster angle [1,2], raster width [21], air gap or flow rate [1,21] as well as active cooling [4], extrusion speed [4], and temperature [1,4]. In addition to electrical conductivity, Watschke et al (2017) [1] and Dul et al (2018) [2] investigated resistive heating due to process-and material-specific variations.…”

“…Based on their experimental results, Hampel et al (2017) [4] developed a rudimentary analytical model for the calculation of the electrical resistance of additively manufactured parts by MEX that supports designing electrical components. In addition, Zhang et al (2017) [23] provided an approach for simulating resulting electrical resistance regarding specific process parameters by utilizing finite elements method. Furthermore, Gnanasekaran et al (2018) [3] highlighted the challenge of combining different materials utilizing multi-material MEX as the individual thermal shrinkage results in a distortion of the multi-material part and, thus, the resulting conductivity is influenced.…”

FDM Rapid Prototyping Technology of Complex‐Shaped Mould Based on Big Data Management of Cloud Manufacturing

“…According to the investment casting process requirements on the use of a wax injection mould material with high temperature performance, hardness, and strength, as well as having [15,16], the forming material selected is ABS. The performance parameters of ABS materials are shown in Table 1, and the corresponding rapid prototyping equipment is the BOX 3D rapid prototyping machine provided by Beijing Lingyang Aipu Technology Co. Ltd.…”

Fabrication of ABS/Graphene Oxide Composite Filament for Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D Printing

“…e layers are then fused together and solidified into final products. Consequently, the quality of the printed parts can be controlled by adjusting the printing parameters, such as layer height, printing temperature, printing speed, and printing orientation [1][2][3][4][5][6]. 3D printed polymers are used in various areas, for example, in automotive, architectural, and even in medical fields.…”

“…However, the usable materials are limited to thermoplastic polymers with appropriate melt viscosity. As a result, the melt viscosity should be adequate to allow extrusion, at the same time, suitable to provide structural supports [4,6]. Even though the 3D printing technologies have attracted much attention over the past years, most of the published studies focused on the printing of pure polymer materials.…”