Secondary recycled acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene and graphene composite for 3D/4D applications: Rheological, thermal, magnetometric, and mechanical analyses

Abstract

This study reports investigation on nano-sized (5–10 nm) graphene (Gr)-reinforced, secondary (2°) recycled acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) as a smart composite material for 3D and 4D applications. Gr was blended (in different weight proportions) with 2°-recycled ABS granules mechanically for selection of composition/proportion after ascertaining rheological property (based upon melt flow index according to ASTM D 1238), thermal stability based upon differential scanning calorimetry, and magnetic property based upon vibration sample magnetometry. The selected compositions/proportions of ABS-Gr composite was further processed with a twin-screw extruder by varying screw temperature and torque. The results of the study suggest that as regards to mechanical properties (peak strength and Shore D hardness) are concerned, the best settings are 20 wt% Gr reinforcement in ABS at a screw temperature 210°C with torque of 0.4 Nm. The corresponding heat capacity and magnetization for the selected composition/proportion was observed as 0.77 J/g and 0.10 × 10−5 emu (+magnetization), 0.080 × 10−5 emu (−magnetization), respectively. The coercivity of the selected compositions ranges from 79.19 Oe to 1260.34 Oe (+coercivity) and 4.64 Oe to 639.50 Oe (−coercivity), whereas the retentivity of the investigated compositions ranges from 2.36 × 10−5 G to 5.44 × 10−4 G (+retentivity) and 4.31 × 10−5 G to 3.48 × 10−5 G (−retentivity). The results have been counter verified based upon optical photo micrographs, porosity analysis, scanning electron microscopy analysis, and energy-dispersive spectroscopy analysis.