Additive manufacturing or 3D printing has the potential to displace some of the current manufacturing techniques and is particularly attractive if local renewable waste resources can be used. In this study, rice husk, and wood powders were compounded in polylactic acid (PLA) by twin screw extrusion to produce filaments for fused-deposition modeling 3D printing. The biomasses were characterized in terms of physical features (e.g., particle size, density) and chemical compositions (e.g., solid state nuclear magnetic resonance, ash content). The two biomasses were found to have a different impact on the rheological behavior of the compounds and the extrusion process overall stability. When comparing the complex viscosity of neat PLA to the biomass/PLA compounds, the integration of wood powder increased the complex viscosity of the compound, whereas the integration of rice husk powder decreased it. This significant difference in rheological behavior was attributed to the higher specific surface area (and chemical reactivity) of the rice husk particles and the presence of silica in rice husks compared to the wood powder. Color variations were also observed. Despite the biomass filler and rheological behavior differences, the mechanical properties of the 3D printed samples were similar and predominantly affected by the printing direction.

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Molar masses, Mark-Houwink-Sakurada (MHS) exponents, and refractive index increments (dn/dc) for three lignins were determined without derivatization by multi-detector gel permeation chromatography (GPC) in dimethylformamide (DMF) with 0.05 M lithium bromide (LiBr). The lack of effectiveness of fluorescence filters on molar mass determination by GPC-multi-angle laser light scattering (MALS) was confirmed for softwood kraft lignin (Indulin AT) and revealed for mixed hardwood organosolv lignin (Alcell) as well as soda straw/grass lignin (Protobind 1000). GPC with viscometry detection confirmed that these lignins were present as compact molecules. The MHS exponent α for Indulin AT and Alcell was in the order of 0.1. Additionally, the intrinsic viscosity of Protobind 1000 for a given molar mass was much lower than that of either Alcell or Indulin AT. This is the first report of dn/dc values for these three lignins in DMF with 0.05 M LiBr.

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