EFFECTS OF FILLERS ON THE PROPERTIES OF POLYPROPYLENE FOR FUSED DEPOSITION MODELING-BASED 3D PRINTING TECHNIQUE

Abstract

The objective of this research was to study the influence of filler contents and filler types on the tensile properties and shrinkage behavior of polypropylene composites to develop the properties of polypropylene (PP) to be a raw material for fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique. PP was compounded with three fillers, i.e., talc and milled glass fiber with aspect ratio 5.4 and 15.4, at various contents of 10, 20 and 30 wt%. The test specimens were fabricated by FDM and injection molding techniques for tensile and shrinkage tests. The findings showed that the increase of filler contents into PP matrix tended to increase the tensile modulus and decrease the tensile strength in both techniques except the strength of talc-filled PP molded by injection molding remained unchanged. In injection molding, milled glass fiber (AR 15.4) and talc composites exhibited the highest tensile modulus and tensile strength, respectively. In addition, the filler types did not significantly affect the tensile modulus and strength for FDM process. For shrinkage behavior, it was found that the increase of filler content declined in shrinkage rate and talc-filled PP composites tended to the lowest shrinkage meanwhile milled glass fiber with aspect ratio 5.4 exhibited the highest shrinkage in both injection molding and FDM techniques. Finally, PP composites may be an alternative feedstock material for FDM technique to produce small parts or mockups.