Fused Deposition Modelling of Natural Fibre/Polylactic Acid Composites

David Stoof,Yuanji Zhang,Kim Pickering

doi:10.3390/jcs1010008

Abstract

Fused deposition modelling is a simple additive manufacturing technology utilising fine filament extrusion of predominantly thermoplastic materials to build 3D objects layer by layer. This research explores the feasibility and the factors involved in using fused deposition modelling to produce natural fibre reinforced composite components. Uniform 3-mm filaments of both hemp and harakeke (Phormium tenax) in varying weight percentages within polylactic acid (PLA) polymer were successfully produced and used to print tensile test samples. Tensile test results supported harakeke to be a useful fibre in terms of mechanical properties achieved which surpassed the Young’s modulus and tensile strength of plain PLA samples by 42.3% and 5.4%, respectively.

Highlights

Hailed as the third industrial revolution and recognised as a textbook disruptive technology, additive manufacturing or 3D printing is changing the way we think about manufacturing [1]
The 3D model is divided into incremental layers in the xy-plane
Composite filaments have been developed, which incorporate a range of different synthetic fibres

Summary

Introduction

Hailed as the third industrial revolution and recognised as a textbook disruptive technology, additive manufacturing or 3D printing is changing the way we think about manufacturing [1]. Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is an additive manufacturing technology that creates 3D parts through directionally orientated extrusion using a miniature extrusion die ~0.5–2 mm in diameter. Composite filaments have been developed, which incorporate a range of different synthetic fibres. Zhong et al [7] found improvement by the addition of short glass fibre in an acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) matrix for use in FDM. Tekinelp et al [9] found that the addition of short carbon fibres to ABS polymer increased the tensile strength and Young’s modulus by 115% and 700%, respectively. 3D printing with continuous carbon fibre in a PLA matrix has been conducted using a modified FDM printer, giving strengths of 185 and 57 MPa, respectively [11]. Synthetic fibre filaments are available commercially, they require specialized FDM systems, such as those produced by MarkForged Inc.

Sample Printing

Surface Finish

Findings

Mechanical Properties