Investigations for mechanical, thermal and magnetic properties of polymeric composite matrix for four-dimensional printing applications

Abstract

In the present study, investigations for mechanical, thermal and magnetic properties of polymeric composite matrix comprising of polylactic acid (PLA), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) reinforced with wood dust and magnetite (Fe3O4) powder have been reported for possible four-dimensional printing applications. PLA polymer shows 4D properties based upon external stimulus along with excellent mechanical properties. The reinforcement of PVC, wood dust and Fe3O4 in PLA affects the 4D capabilities of composite matrix, which has been explored in this work based upon coercivity, magnetization, retentivity along with tensile properties and thermal stability. It has been observed that mechanical processing with twin screw extrusion at 170 °C barrel temperature, 0.10 Nm torque and 10 kg load are the optimized parametric conditions for hybrid blend (composite composition/proportion PLA 50 wt%–PVC 25 wt%–Fe3O4 20 wt%–wood dust 5 wt%). Further, it has been ascertained that only screw temperature is significant parameter for controlling the mechanical properties of the extrudate. The results are supported by surface hardness, surface roughness (Ra), porosity percentage (%) and fractured surface analysis.