Development of material extrusion 3D printing compatible tailorable thermoplastic elastomeric materials from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and styrene‐(ethylene‐butylene)‐styrene block copolymer blends

Abstract

Currently, material extrusion‐based additive manufacturing (MEAM) is an advanced fabrication technique for polymeric materials. However, MEAM feedstocks typically rely on amorphous thermoplastics and hence it suffers from limitation of compatible polymers. The current work reports the manufacturing of MEAM compatible new thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and styrene‐(ethylene‐butylene)‐styrene (SEBS) block copolymer blends which allow the designing of tailorable TPEs. Printability and mechanical properties of several ABS/SEBS (w/w) compositions were investigated. Interestingly, it was revealed that only 40 ABS/60 SEBS (w/w) blend possesses elastomeric properties in terms of strain at break (~550%) and tension set values (~10%). The effect of print layer thickness, orientation of printing, and infill degree on mechanical and TPE properties of the printed parts were studied theoretically by exploiting the Taguchi method. The infill degree has a significant influence on the mechanical performance whereas a slight effect was found by varying the layer thickness. Finally, the performance of the additive manufactured TPE were compared with conventional compression molded TPE specimens. As expected, lower values of ultimate tensile strength, Young's modulus, and strain at break of the additive manufactured sample were obtained as compared to the molded samples. However, no major variation could be found in the dynamic moduli, loss tangent, and absolute value of complex viscosity.

Optimization of process parameters of 3D printed thermoplastic elastomeric materials using statistical modeling with particular reference to mechanical properties and print quality

“…These techniques differ fundamentally in terms of feeding material, speed, and printing technology. On a commercial scale, FDM is a highly utilized additive manufacturing technique, however, the technique is challenging for printing soft polymeric material [9][10][11]. In the FDM process material in the form of a filament is fed with the aid of counter-rotating rollers into the heated liquefier head.…”

Improving 3D printability and interlayer adhesion in ABS/PP immiscible polymer blends

“…While improved printability is required to achieve high precision and reliability in the manufacturing of intricate geometries. Some efforts have been made to overcome these issues with the aid of a suitable compatibilizer that minimizes the interfacial tension between immiscible polymer blends 19–22 . Jairui Hou, Ming Zhong et al, demonstrated good mechanical performance and 3D printability of the components aided by polypropylene grafted with maleic anhydride (PP‐g‐MA) as a compatibilizer in brominated butyl rubber/polypropylene/thermoplastic vulcanization blends (BIIR/PP/TPV) 23 using the FDM process.…”

Direct ink writing‐based additive manufacturing of styrene‐isoprene‐styrene block copolymer

“…Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) is a soft polymeric material that typically consists of a hard thermoplastic segment that provides thermoplastic-like processability and a soft rubbery segment that provides rubber-like elasticity. 24,25 TPEs are used in a wide range of industrial applications due to their good processability, unique rubber-like elasticity, and excellent mechanical properties. 9,26 Among the different classes of block copolymers, styrene-isoprene-styrene (SIS) block copolymer is an interesting commercial TPE.…”