Rapid tooling through micro additive manufacturing with reinforcement of SiC/Al2O3 in LDPE domestic waste

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper reports the in-house development of rapid tooling (RT) through micro additive manufacturing (MAM) with reinforcement of SiC/Al2O3 in primary-recycled low-density polyethylene (LDPE) domestic waste. The reinforcement in recycled LDPE was made in different particulate sizes (µm), namely, single particle size (SPS)/double particle size (DPS)/triple particle size (TPS) and in different weight proportions. The best combinations based upon wear and thermal stability were selected and used for filament wire preparation with twin-screw extruder (TSE). The cylindrical pins as RT reinforced with SiC/Al2O3 were 3D printed on fused deposition modelling (FDM) setup for grinding applications. The outcome of the study highlights that SiC-TPS reinforcement in recycled LDPE matrix resulted in improved wear characteristics of RT prepared as MAM. Further thermographs based upon differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were plotted to ensure the thermal stability of RT prepared through MAM.