Investigation of the wear and friction profile of TPU-based polymers at different infill ratios

Abstract

Additive manufacturing is a widely used method in industry and research areas. In particular, fused deposition modelling is the most prevalent technique used by many professional and nonprofessional users. Many polymers can be used with this system, including thermo polyurethanes (TPU). TPUs have excellent elastic properties and high endurance against corrosion, humidity, and oil, and they ex-hibit a great absorbance capability to noise and vibrations, biocompatibility, and chemical resistance. Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) is also preferred for use in 3D/4D printing applications due to its easy casting, injection, and extrusion capabilities and its shape memory features. In this study, flexible TPU and carbon-mixed TPU were used to produce specimens with fused deposition modelling tech-niques at different infill ratios with the same patterns. The effects of the infill ratio within the different and same materials were investigated in terms of wear and friction profiles. Additionally, thermal and worn surface images were taken using a digital microscope. The hardness and diameter value altera-tions were also investigated for different materials and infill ratios. As a result of the study, material al-teration is more effective than the infill ratios in all parameters.