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Characterizing the mechanical properties of fused deposition modelling natural fiber recycled polypropylene composites

Abstract
The objective of this investigation was to characterize the performance of natural fiber reinforced polypropylene composites in fused deposition modelling (FDM). Composite filaments comprising of pre-consumer recycled polypropylene with varying contents of hemp or harakeke fibers were extruded from which tensile test specimens were made using FDM. Filament and test specimens were tensile tested and properties were compared with plain polypropylene samples; the ultimate tensile strength and Young’s modulus of reinforced filament increased by more than 50% and 143%, respectively, for both 30 wt % hemp or harakeke compared to polypropylene filament. However, the same degree of improvement was not seen with the FDM test specimens, with several compositions having properties lower than for unfilled polypropylene. SEM analysis of fracture surfaces revealed uniform fiber dispersion and reasonable fiber alignment, but porosity and fiber pull-out were also observed. Fiber reinforcement was found to give benefit regarding dimensional stability during extrusion and FDM, which is of major importance for its implementation in FDM. Recommendations for optimization of processing in order to enhance build quality and improve mechanical properties are provided.
Type
Journal Article
Type of thesis
Series
Citation
Milosevic, M., Stoof, D., & Pickering, K. L. (2017). Characterizing the mechanical properties of fused deposition modelling natural fiber recycled polypropylene composites. Journal of Composites Science, 1(1), 7. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs1010007
Date
2017
Publisher
MDPI
Degree
Supervisors
Rights
© 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).