On SiC/Al2O3 reinforced HDPE 3D printed rapid tooling

Abstract

This work reports the in-house fabrication of SiC/Al2O3 reinforced rapid tooling (RT) using feed stock filament prepared by single screw extrusion for fused deposition modelling (FDM) platform. The current investigation focuses on preparation of high density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix reinforced with single particle size, dual particle size and triple particle size for RT applications. The study suggests that triple particle size of Al2O3 is best alternative among single, double and triple particle size of reinforcement for preparation of RT. Also the study highlights that the infill density (ID) plays significant and most important input processing parameter for preparation of RT comprising of HDPE composite matrix from dimensional accuracy and hardness view point. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) study suggested us that the RT prepared with HDPE composite matrix is thermally stable.