Fused deposition modelling (FDM) has been widely used in medical appliances, automobile, aircraft and aerospace, household appliances, toys, and many other fields. The ease of processing, low cost and high flexibility of FDM technique are strong advantages compared to other techniques for thermoelectric polymer composite fabrication. This research work focuses on the effect of two crucial printing parameters (infill density and printing pattern) on the tensile, dynamic mechanical, and thermoelectric properties of conductive acrylonitrile butadiene styrene/zinc oxide (CABS/ZnO composites fabricated by FDM technique. Results revealed significant improvement in tensile strength and Young’s modulus, with a decrease in elongation at break with infill density. Improvement in dynamic storage modulus was observed when infill density changed from 50% to 100%. However, the loss modulus and damping factor reduced gradually. The increase of thermal conductivity was relatively smaller compared to the improvement of electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient, therefore, the calculated figure of merit (ZT) value increased with infill density. Line pattern performed better than rectilinear, especially in tensile properties and electrical conductivity. From the results obtained, FDM-fabricated CABS/ZnO showed much potential as a promising candidate for thermoelectric application.

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This paper compares the effects of different forms of vulcanized natural rubbers on the physical, mechanical, thermal, and electrical performances of filled epoxy systems. In this study, natural rubber (NR), liquid natural rubber (LNR), and recycled natural rubber (rNR) were introduced into filled epoxy systems. The results show that flexural strength, modulus, and toughness properties of filled epoxy system were enhanced with NR phases, as compared to those with LNR and rNR. Scanning electron micrograph revealed that the particle sizes of NR phases dispersed within epoxy matrix were smaller and more uniform, as compared to those with LNR and rNR phases. Incorporation of NR phases has improved the thermal stability of filled system, followed by LNR and rNR. This is attributed to more heat energy needed to overcome good interfacial bonding between epoxy matrix and small NR phases. X‐ray diffraction analysis result showed that filled epoxy/NR/GNP system has higher 2θ values, indicated that d‐spacing in between GNP nano‐fillers has the closer distance. Electrical bulk conductivity values of filled epoxy/NR/GNP system were the highest. Small NR phases acted as elastomer spacers, which provided better “GNP packing efficiency” and realigned the GNP nano‐fillers to form more effective conductive pathways for electrons hopping. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47188.

In this paper, the composites were prepared to improve the mechanical, electrical and thermal properties because 3D printed objects tend to have low structural integrity. The printing process starts by laying down successive layers of molten ABS filament and the filler will disperse onto the layer until the whole specimen was completed. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of fillers content on the mechanical, electrical and thermal properties of ABS–zinc ferrite composites. The mechanical strength of the 3D printed products is usually worse compared with injection molding due to their fragile structure and weakness points between the layers. The additions of filler content at 14 wt% was found to provide a significant improvement in density and tensile properties which gives the highest value of improvement up to 8% and 70% accordingly compared to the pure ABS. Hardness testing result also showed a 117% increase over the unreinforced ABS. The thermal and electrical conductivity increased by 22% and 186% respectively when 14 wt% filler was added to the samples. All the results showed an improvement in terms of mechanical, electrical and thermal properties compared with control ABS specimen due to the presence of zinc ferrite filler. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 24:E217–E229, 2018. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers

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