Comparison of Mechanical Blended and Chemical Assisted Mechanical Blended ABS-Graphene Reinforced Composite for 3D Printing Applications

Abstract

3D printing of polymers based composite material is of great industrial importance these days. The polymer composite feedstock filaments used in fused deposition modeling (FDM) based 3D printers are prepared in house commercially by two methods i.e. mechanical blending (MB) and chemical assisted mechanical blending (CAMB). This study reports the comparison of MB and CAMB route for preparation of graphene (Gr) particles reinforced acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) thermoplastic matrix based composites possessing acceptable flow-ability, mechanical and thermal properties for 3D printing applications. For rheological characterization of ABS-Gr composite, MB and CAMB compositions/ proportions were prepared by reinforcing nano Gr particles from 5% to 20% by weight in ABS and hence, melt flow index (MFI) and viscosity of compositions/ proportions was investigated. Along with rheological analysis, thermal, mechanical and morphological properties of MB and CAMB ABS- Gr composites were also compared. The results of the study outlined that CAMB process is the better route to prepare in house feedstock filament for open source FDM based 3D printer. The composite ABS80-Gr20 prepared by CAMB also possesses good thermal properties in terms of heat capacity (−1.65Jg−1) and thermal stability. This composition/proportion also has better mechanical strength with Young’s modulus of 722.1 MPa. The morphological results based upon Tool Maker’s microscopy and porosity percentage highlighted that CAMB of ABS80-Gr20 showed better dispersion of nano-particles with minimum porosity of 8.73%.