Three‐dimensional printing of poly(lactic acid) bio‐based composites with sugarcane bagasse fiber: Effect of printing orientation on tensile performance

• Published in: Polymers for advanced technologies 2019-04, Vol.30 (4), p.910-922
• Main Authors: Liu, Hao, He, Hui, Peng, Xiaodong, Huang, Bai, Li, Jiaxiong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bagasse; Bend strength; Cellulose fibers; Chemical treatment; Crystallization; Extrusion; FDM 3D printing; Fish; Fused deposition modeling; Mechanical properties; Modulus of rupture in bending; Molecular chains; Morphology; Organic chemistry; Orientation effects; poly(lactic acid); Polylactic acid; printing orientation; Rapid prototyping; Sugarcane; sugarcane bagasse fiber; Tensile strength; Thermal decomposition; Thermal stability; Three dimensional composites; Three dimensional models; Three dimensional printing
• ISSN: 1042-7147; 1099-1581
• DOI: 10.1002/pat.4524

The cellulose fiber was extracted from the abandoned crop sugarcane bagasse (SCB) by means of chemical treatment methods. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) bio‐based composites with SCB were prepared through fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D‐printing technology, and the morphologies, mechanical properties, crystallization properties, and thermal stability of 3D‐printed composites were investigated. Compared with the neat PLA, the incorporation of SCB into PLA reduces the tensile strength and flexural strength of 3D‐printed samples but increases the flexural modulus. The difference in tensile performance and bending performance is that the tensile strength of 3D‐printed samples is best when the SCB content is 6 wt%, while the flexural modulus continuously decreases as the SCB content increases. Furthermore, the effects of various printing methods on the tensile performance of 3D‐printed samples were explored via modifying G‐code of 3D models. The results indicate that the optimum SCB fiber content is identical for all printing methods except method “vertical.” Due to the fibers and molecular chains are oriented to varying degrees with altering raster angle in 3D‐printed samples, the fully oriented sample printed by method “parallel” has a better tensile strength. Besides, SCB exhibits enough high thermal decomposition temperature to meet requirements for melt extrusion processing of PLA composites, and SCB fiber is capable of promoting the crystallization of PLA.