Exploring the possibilities of FDM filaments comprising natural fiber-reinforced biocomposites for additive manufacturing

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Volume Title

A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2021

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Mcode

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Language

en

Pages

14

Series

AIMS Materials Science, Volume 8, issue 4, pp. 524-537

Abstract

In recent years, with the recent advancements in the field of additive manufacturing, the use of biobased thermoplastic polymers and their natural fiber-reinforced biocomposite filaments have been rapidly emerging. Compared to their oil-based counterparts, they provide several advantages with their low carbon footprints, ease of reusability and recyclability and abundancy, and comparable price ranges. In consideration of their increasing usage, the present study focused on the development and analysis of biocomposite material blends and filaments by merging state-of-the-art manufacturing and material technologies. A thorough suitability study for fused deposition modeling (FDM), which is used to manufacture samples by depositing the melt layer-by-layer, was carried out. The mechanical, thermal, and microstructural characterization of birch fiber reinforced PLA composite granules, in-house extruded filaments, and printed specimens were investigated. The results demonstrated the printability of biocomposite filaments. However, it was also concluded that the parameters still need to be optimized for generic and flawless filament extrusion and printing processes. Thus, minimal labor and end-products with better strength and resolutions can be achieved.

Description

Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the material support by Elastopoli Oy, Finland. Both M.R. and R.A. had equal contributions; therefore, their co-authorship order should be equally assessed. A.K. gratefully acknowledges the funding through the Academy of Finland BESIMAL (Decision No. 334197). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

Keywords

3D printing, Additive manufacturing, biocomposites, filament extrusion, fused deposition modelling (FDM), recyclability

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Citation

Rafiee, M, Abidnejad, R, Ranta, A, Ojha, K, Karakoç, A & Paltakari, J 2021, ' Exploring the possibilities of FDM filaments comprising natural fiber-reinforced biocomposites for additive manufacturing ', AIMS Materials Science, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 524-537 . https://doi.org/10.3934/matersci.2021032