Thermo-mechanical properties of composite filaments for 3D printing of fabrics

Abstract

The objective of this study is to manufacture composite filaments to be used in three-dimensional (3D) printing of fabrics using fused deposition modeling (FDM) method. The primary properties of a fabric are flexibility and strength which are lacking in the available 3D printed materials. Polylactic acid (PLA), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and poly(ethylene) glycol (PEG) were blended in different proportions and extruded using twin-screw extruder to obtain composite filaments. The properties of the filaments were studied using various material characterization methods such as uniaxial tensile test, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). With the addition of PEG in the PLA/TPU composition, it was found that the yield stress and Young’s modulus of the composite filaments have significantly decreased compared to that of pure PLA filament. It was also noted that there was no significant difference in ultimate tensile strength whereas the elongation at break was increased by more than 500%. Using the composite filament, a plain weave fabric structure was 3D printed to investigate the printing ability of a complex structure. It is concluded that the composite filaments developed are suitable for 3D printing but non-uniformity in diameter affects the print quality and hence the overall properties of fabrics.

Thermomechanical behavior of three dimensionally printed fabric structures

“…The yarns in the longitudinal direction (or machine direction) are known as warp yarns whereas the yarns in the transverse direction (or cross‐machine direction) are known as weft or filling yarns. [ 8,20,42 ]…”

“…The yarns in the longitudinal direction (or machine direction) are known as warp yarns whereas the yarns in the transverse direction (or cross-machine direction) are known as weft or filling yarns. [8,20,42] In this study, a yarn of circular cross-section is considered. The diameter of each yarn is 1.70 mm, the spacing between yarns (warp and weft) is 8.0 mm and the thickness of fabric structure is 3.00 mm (Figure 5).…”

Creep behavior of 3D printed polymer composites

“…For more information about the filament manufacturing and the settings, one may refer to the references. 16,24 The samples, PLA2.85 and PLA1.75 are as-purchased PLA filament of diameters 2.85 mm, and 1.75 mm, respectively. These materials were used as a control group.…”

“…PLA, a polymer having high mechanical strength, and TPU, a polymer having high flexibility, are used in the form of pellets and blended together. PEG chips are used as a plasticizer in varying proportions to enhance the properties of the composite filaments 16,24 . Several other researchers have studied the polymer properties of PLA/TPU composition for various applications 25–30 .…”

“…PEG chips are used as a plasticizer in varying proportions to enhance the properties of the composite filaments. 16,24 Several other researchers have studied the polymer properties of PLA/TPU composition for various applications. [25][26][27][28][29][30] All these studies focus on elastic-plastic mechanical deformation and chemical properties investigations.…”