Abstract
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) is the oldest fused filament fabrication (FFF) material that shows low stability to thermal aging due to hydrogen abstraction of the butadiene monomer. A novel blend of ABS, polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene graft maleic anhydride (PE-g-MAH) is presented for FFF. ANOVA was used to analyze the effects of three variables (bed temperature, printing temperature, and aging interval) on tensile properties of the specimens made on a custom-built pellet printer. The compression and flexure properties were also investigated for the highest thermal combinations. The blend showed high thermal stability with enhanced strength despite three days of aging, as well as high bed and printing temperatures. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) provided significant chemical interactions. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) confirmed the thermal stability with enhanced enthalpy of glass transition and melting. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) also revealed high temperatures for onset and 50% mass degradation. Signs of chemical grafting and physical interlocking in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) also explained the thermo-mechanical stability of the blend.
Highlights
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) is one of the common terpolymers in conventional polymer processes and fused filament fabrication (FFF) [1,2]
ABS, PP, and PE-g-maleic anhydride (MAH) were dried at 50 ◦ C in an oven for six hours
The compositions were blended in a single-screw extruder (Beierman, Leyuzhen, China), which was selected for blending in order to avoid any probable degradation due to shearing pressure at high temperatures [26]
Summary
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) is one of the common terpolymers in conventional polymer processes and fused filament fabrication (FFF) [1,2] It is composed of styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) grafted with polybutadiene (PB) that provides diverse properties (tensile strength, ductility, hydrophobicity) to suit a wide range of applications in conventional polymer processes [3]. It is one of the oldest FFF materials that is used to three-dimensionally (3D) print a wide range of additive manufacturing (AM) applications, such as prototypes, airfoils, clamps, etc. The hydrogen abstraction reported a significant impact on the mechanical and thermal properties due to the different weathering conditions above 40 ◦ C [7,9,10]
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