Generation of Polyphenylene Sulfide Reinforced with a Thermotropic Liquid Crystalline Polymer for Application in Fused Filament Fabrication

Abstract

In this work, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) was reinforced with a thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (TLCP) to generate composite filaments for use in Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). Because of non-overlapping processing temperatures, rheology enabled taking the advantage of the dual extrusion technology, which generated nearly continuously reinforced filaments that exhibited a tensile strength and modulus of 155.0 ± 24.2 MPa and 40.4 ± 7.5 GPa, respectively. On printing using these filaments, the maximum tensile strength and modulus obtained were 108.5 ± 19.4 MPa and 25.9 ± 1.1 GPa, respectively, higher than the properties reported on using short fiber composites. Moreover, the tensile strength was lower, and the tensile modulus was higher in comparison with the reported use of continuous fibers. Additionally, the tensile properties in the print direction were higher than those of compression molded samples. The nearly continuous reinforcement did not restrict the mobility of the printer, unlike the reported performance of the continuously reinforced carbon fiber thermoplastics in FFF.