Study of the Wear Resistance of Conductive Poly Lactic Acid Monofilament 3D Printed onto Polyethylene Terephthalate Woven Materials.

Prisca Aude Eutionnat-Diffo,Christine Campagne,Vincent Nierstrasz,Aurelie Cayla,Jinping Guan,Yan Chen

doi:10.3390/ma13102334

Abstract

Wear resistance of conductive Poly Lactic Acid monofilament 3D printed onto textiles, through Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process and their electrical conductivity after abrasion are important to consider in the development of smart textiles with preserved mechanical and electrical properties. The study aims at investigating the weight loss after abrasion and end point of such materials, understanding the influence of the textile properties and 3D printing process parameters and studying the impact of the abrasion process on the electrical conductivity property of the 3D printed conductive polymers onto textiles. The effects of the 3D printing process and the printing parameters on the structural properties of textiles, such as the thickness of the conductive Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) 3D printed onto polyethylene terephthalate (PET) textile and the average pore sizes of its surface are also investigated. Findings demonstrate that the textile properties, such as the pattern and the process settings, for instance, the printing bed temperature, impact significantly the abrasion resistance of 3D printed conductive Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) onto PET woven textiles. Due to the higher capacity of the surface structure and stronger fiber-to-fiber cohesion, the 3D printed conductive polymer deposited onto textiles through Fused Deposition Modeling process have a higher abrasion resistance and lower weight loss after abrasion compared to the original fabrics. After printing the mean pore size, localized at the surface of the 3D-printed PLA onto PET textiles, is five to eight times smaller than the one of the pores localized at the surface of the PET fabrics prior to 3D printing. Finally, the abrasion process did considerably impact the electrical conductivity of 3D printed conductive PLA onto PET fabric.

Highlights

In order to be suitable for smart textiles applications, conductive thermoplastic-based nanocomposites materials polymers deposited onto textiles through Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process, which can exhibit ease of processing, low cost and versatility, together with acceptable adhesion [1,2,3,4] and tensile [5] properties, have to demonstrate great wear resistances
Twill fabrics showed higher weight loss than plain one and the weft density presented a quadratic effect on the weight loss percentage
Better abrasion resistance was obtained when using plain as a substrate, the highest weft density and the lowest platform temperature

Summary

Introduction

In order to be suitable for smart textiles applications, conductive thermoplastic-based nanocomposites materials polymers deposited onto textiles through Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process, which can exhibit ease of processing, low cost and versatility, together with acceptable adhesion [1,2,3,4] and tensile [5] properties, have to demonstrate great wear resistances.Many researchers have studied the wear resistance of thermoplastic-based nanocomposites materials [6,7,8] and textiles [9,10,11,12,13]. Malucelli et al have shown that the wear performance of polymeric materials depends on several factors such as the bulk and surface properties of the polymer 3D- materials, the filler size (17, 38 and 45 nm) and shape, the homogeneity of dispersion of the filler within the matrix (polymer) and the interface filler/matrix. They found that the higher the alumina nanofiller size, the better the wear resistance. Several parameters can impact it, for instance, the cohesion/adhesion between the two layers, their surface roughness and the polymer structure [6]

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