Emission Profiles of Volatiles during 3D Printing with ABS, ASA, Nylon, and PETG Polymer Filaments

Abstract

In this short communication we characterize the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing using four polymer materials, namely polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified (PETG), acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA), Nylon, and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Detailed emission profiles are obtained during thermal degradation of the polymers as a function of temperature and also in real-time during 3D printing. Direct quantitative measurement was performed using proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS). Qualitative determination of the volatiles emitted from the printed elements at various temperatures was accomplished using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The emission rates of VOCs differ significantly between the different polymer filaments, with the emission from Nylon and PETG more than an order of magnitude lower than that of ABS.

Online Volatile Compound Emissions Analysis Using a Microchamber/Thermal Extractor Coupled to Proton Transfer Reaction-Mass Spectrometry

“…Nevertheless, molecular fragmentation or interference from isomeric compounds cannot be ruled out. Consequently, unequivocal compound identification is seldom possible in nontargeted PTR-TOFMS analysis without a complementary GC-MS screening to identify compounds and aid m / z signal assignments, as reported previously. , Accordingly, the TD-GC × GC-TOFMS data were drawn upon here for assigning compounds to the PTR-TOFMS m / z signals, which was achieved for nine of the traces (including two isomers associated with one trace); for the remaining three traces, only their elemental compositions could be determined, thus each of these might be associated with more than one compound.…”

Boron‐polymer composites engineered for compression molding, foaming, and additive manufacturing

“…For instance, incorporation of 20 wt% of carbon fibers to ABS resulted in lowering the onset of thermal degradation to 253°C 53 . These results are important in the context of 3D printing technology since limiting extrusion temperatures to those below T d5% will avoid the degradation of the composite material as well as contamination of the environment with volatile organic compounds 54 …”

“…51,52 For instance, incorporation of 20 wt% of carbon fibers to ABS resulted in lowering the onset of thermal degradation to 253 C. 53 These results are important in the context of 3D printing technology since limiting extrusion temperatures to those below T d5% will avoid the degradation of the composite material as well as contamination of the environment with volatile organic compounds. 54 DSC experiments were carried out to evaluate changes to crystallization and glass transition temperature (T g ) due to boron addition. As shown in Figure 13, the addition of boron to siloxane matrices resulted in a slight increase in T g , varying from À125 C for 50 wt% boron Sylgard 184 to À113 C for the 80 wt% boron compression molded sample.…”

Effect of Three-Dimensional-Printed Thermoplastics Used in Sensor Housings on Common Atmospheric Trace Gasses

“…Table 1 summarizes several studies that have examined VOC emissions at atmospheric pressure from FDM-printed thermoplastics during the FDM printing process using various methods [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]. Some of these studies provided somewhat contradictory rankings of VOC emissions from different thermoplastic filaments, likely due to different VOC measurement methods and FDM settings.…”