Flextural properties of 3D printed Copper-Filler Polylactic Acid (Cu-PLA)

Abstract

Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) technology is among the lowest cost 3D printing technology for processing thermoplastic and composite materials. FDM has been highly used in additive manufacturing due to its ability to process complex parts with accurate dimension and lowest cost possible. FDM technology has limited working temperature; hence the materials used in FDM such as polylactic acid (PLA) have a relatively low melting temperature. The drawback of these thermoplastic printed through FDM is the lack of mechanical strength and properties such as thermal and electrical conductivity to print functional part. These problems have led to the development of new composite filament for FDM technique. In this research, polymer-matrix composite (PMC) with 25 wt.% and 80 wt.% of copper reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) specimens have been printed with different infill patterns (Rectilinear, Grid, Concentric, Octagram-spiral, and Honeycomb) to study its flexural properties. The flexural test was carried out according to ASTM D790. This study found that there is a significant effect of the two parameters towards flexural properties. From the flexural test, the preliminary result of flexural strength and flexural modulus were obtained. The flexural strength is 25.98 MPa achieved by the 25 wt.% Cu composition specimens with Concentric infill pattern. The flexural modulus is 0.3306 GPa achieved by the 80 wt.% Cu composition specimens with Concentric infill pattern.

Multifunctional Material Extrusion 3D-Printed Antibacterial Polylactic Acid (PLA) with Binary Inclusions: The Effect of Cuprous Oxide and Cellulose Nanofibers

“…The effect of the filler loading was also considered in the present study. Comparing the existing work results with those reported in the literature, PLA/Cu 2 O nanocomposite mechanical test results (tensile and flexural) are in agreement with corresponding results for PLA/Cu nanocomposites prepared by MEX 3D printing [40,42]. PLA/CNF nanocomposite mechanical test results are also in good agreement with corresponding results reported in the literature [49,52,53].…”

“…Its oxides, such as cuprous oxide (Cu 2 O), have also been used in 3D printing for the development of nanocomposites with multifunctional behavior and antibacterial properties, among others [35]. In MEX 3D printing, copper and its oxides have been mixed with PLA polymer for the development of composites for biomedical applications [36,37], electrical applications [37][38][39], and enhancement of mechanical properties [40][41][42]. Cellulose is an ecofriendly biomass material derived from plants.…”

Application of Composite Filament with the Addition of Metallic Powders in 3D Printing

“…The addition of metallic powder to PLA makes it possible to obtain a material that is cheap and suitable for printing as well as sintering [3,4]. Polylactide (PLA) is a linear aliphatic polyester.…”

Analysis of the effect 3D printing parameters on tensile strength using Copper-PLA filament

“…Published papers on using copper-PLA 3D printing were barely found. Research on the use of plastic and metal mixed filaments, more precisely between copper and PLA, was carried out by [7] by printing flexural test specimens varying the filling pattern on the specimen and producing the greatest flexural strength value in the concentric shaped pattern [8].…”