Fabrication of Conductive Filaments for 3D-printing: Polymer Nanocomposites

Abstract

With the promise of producing electrically conductive circuits, 3-dimensional-printing (3DP) filaments infused with carbon nanostructures are now commercially available; however, it is still difficult to control the mixture homogeneity between the polymer and conductive charge thereby increasing its conductive mobility. Herein, we describe the fabrication, characterization and application of conductive polymernanocomposites processed into filament form intended for 3DP of electronic circuits. For this, graphene, carbon nanotubes and carbon black fillers were loaded into several resin matrixes including ABS, PLA, HDPE, LLDPE, PETG, and PP. Electrical measurements, thermal, crystallographic and morphological profiles are here described. Filaments obtained present values of resistivity and conductivity ranging from 0.2 to 1.4 S/cm and 0.71 to 5.0 S/cm respectively. Thermal analysis showed that the processing temperature of materials studied is inside the standard range for extrusion and 3D-printing. Microscopic analysis revealed a heterogeneous mix between resins and fillers. The electrical and thermal stress test showed increases in resistivity and decreases in conductivity of prepared filaments since these quantities are inversely proportional.