Investigations on melt flow index of nano bio fillers reinforced thermoplastic composites for fDM filament fabrication

Abstract

Three-Dimensional (3D) printing, is a creative manufacturing technique. Well-known additive manufacturing technique Fused deposition modelling (FDM), has seen an increase in ppopularity over the recent years due to its capability to make complex geometries that conventional production ways are unable to. Typically used materials in the fused deposition modelling are polymer based, however they do not have certain attributes that would allow them for usage in more extensive applications. Nano materials are used in 3d printing to improve novel functionalities. In the current research, we investigated the melt flow characteristics of a novel material to produce filament wire for uutilization in 3d printing mainly FDM applications. Different weight percentages of orange peel powder (0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10%) were reinforced with PLA pellets to produce a composite, study the composite’s melt flow properties. Out of all weight percentages 2% shows the best result than the neat PLA. The MFI’s test result clearly indicates that the value of MFI of PLA varied significantly based on the weight percentages of filler used as reinforcement.