Feedstock Extrusion, Windability, and Printability Studies of Poly-lactic Acid (PLA) Material for Extrusion-Based Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques offer several advantages compared to conventional manufacturing methods. Various polymers, composites, metals, and ceramics can be fabricated using extrusion-based AM techniques. The filaments of standard 3D printing materials are commercially available. However, if there arises a need to print a metal/short fiber reinforced composite part, the customized feedstock should be prepared. In this study, an in-house fabrication of Polylactic acid (PLA) filament for material extrusion is done. During the neat PLA filament fabrication, the filament was found to be brittle, and the quality was inconsistent. The feedstock is mixed with varying percentages of Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) polymer to address the issue. The extruded filaments are then compared with the commercially available filaments. This study evaluated the manufactured filaments in terms of quality and mechanical characterization. The quality of filaments is assessed in terms of filament diameter and ovality. Tensile tests are conducted on the filament samples to evaluate strength, Young's modulus, etc. The filaments are also tested for windability and printability; the work presents the results. The consistency of diameter and printability of filaments suggests an option for fabricating a custom filament and the feasibility of using them as a printing material.