Bio-composites for fused filament fabrication: effects of maleic anhydride grafting on poly(lactic acid) and microcellulose

Abstract

Composite filaments consisting of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and micro crystalline cellulose (MCC) were successfully used for additive manufacturing (AM) by fused filament fabrication (FFF). PLA and MCC bio-composites were obtained by direct mixing in a melt compounder; maleic anhydride (MAH) was also grafted onto PLA in reactive mixing stage to evaluate its effect on the final properties of the printed material. Filaments with various concentrations of MCC (up to a maximum content of 10 wt%) were produced with a single screw extruder and used to feed a commercial desktop FFF printer. Upon grafting of PLA with MAH, a more coherent interfacial morphology between PLA and MCC was detected by electron microscopy analysis. The thermal degradation of the PLA was unaffected by the presence of MCC and MAH. According to differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis results, micro-cellulose acted as nucleating agent for PLA. In fact, the crystallization peak shifted towards lowers temperature and a synergistic effect when MCC was added to PLA grafted with MAH was observed possibly due to the increase of the chain mobility. Micro cellulose led to an increase in the stiffness of the material in both filaments and 3D printed specimen, however, a different fracture behavior was observed due to the peculiar structure of printed samples.

Comprehensive characterization of raw and treated pineapple leaf fiber/polylactic acid green composites manufactured by 3D printing technique

“…The powdered PALFs were mixed well with PLA pellets in the wt% of 1, 3 and 5 to obtain the homogeneous mixture. [ 21 ] The steps followed in the preparation of the PALF/PLA homogeneous mixture is shown in Figure 2A. Now the mixture is shown in Figure 2B is loaded into a Robotdigg desktop filament extruder set at a preheating and extrusion temperature range of 160°C–165°C and 168°C–172°C respectively which is well below the degradation temperature of the PALF.…”

A comprehensive review on natural fillers reinforced polymer composites using fused deposition modeling

“…PLA/Micro cellulose/Maleic Anhydride (MAH) composite thermal stability and mechanical property (Compact Tension) were investigated. [ 152 ] Composites were made with different percentages of PLA (1%, 3%, and 5%) and compared to pure PLA. MAH was utilized as a compatibilizer, and its thermal stability and mechanical properties were investigated.…”

Dual material fused filament fabrication of composite core‐shell structures with improved impact resistance and interfacial adhesion

“…[31][32][33][34] MAH grafting has been used in FFF of recycled polymer blends to improve their compatibility, and in highly filled thermoplastics to enhance the interfacial adhesion between the filler and polymer matrix. [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] This work investigates the effect of improved interfacial adhesion between the core and shell on the mechanical performance of FFF produced composite parts containing immiscible polymers. Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) was employed to confirm the grafting of MAH.…”