Fabrication of 3D printed nanocomposites with electrospun nanofiber interleaves

Abstract

The incorporation of nanomaterials into polymer melts has been widely studied in recent years with the aim of improving the mechanical properties of 3D printed products. But it is still challenging, due to the poor dispersion of additives and the difficult processability of the resulting high-viscosity material. Here, we propose a novel fabrication process to enhance the mechanical properties of the 3D printed structure, and to overcome the above-mentioned issues. It is a method based on fused filament fabrication 3D printing with the application of nanofiber interleaves. We used poly (lactide acid) (PLA) both for producing nanofibers by electrospinning and for preparing 3D printing filaments by extrusion. The nanofiber mat (interleave) was placed between two printed layers during the printing process. We systematically studied the morphology of nanofibers at the interlaminar interface and found that nozzle temperature was the essential parameter that affected the adhesion between the nanofiber interleaves and the printed layers. We varied nanofiber content to study its effect on the mechanical properties of nanocomposites. With the integration of nanofibers, nanocomposites obtained improvements in storage modulus and tensile strength.