Influence of Recycled Scrap Particles on Tensile Behavior of
Additively Manufactured Polylactic Acid (PLA) Composites for Automotive
Upholstery Applications 2023-01-5151
In the domain of Additive Manufacturing (AM), Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF)
hath flourished as a promising method for crafting complex geometric parts with
a commendable degree of dimensional precision. The perception of recycling metal
scrap particles obtained from machining operations unbound the scope of
developing sustainable layered polymer composites with integral properties of
metal particles. In this context, the present work is intended to investigate
the tensile properties of Polylactic Acid (PLA), strengthened with fine
particles of bronze scrap particles as reinforcement fabricated by FFF-based
additive manufacturing technique. The composite specimens are manufactured as
per ASTM standard with different combinations of build orientation, infill
pattern, and no. of reinforcement layers. The orientation angles of
00, 300, and 600 are used for building the
composite specimens with honeycomb, rectilinear, and grid infill patterns. 1, 2
and 3 layers of reinforcement stacking is made between PLA matrix while building
the tensile specimens. The tensile test findings revealed that the rectilinear
build pattern highly influences the tensile strength of the fabricated samples.
Compared to pure PLA, the reduced trend of tensile strength is observed on
reinforced PLA composites. The outcome of this research effort prompts the
exploration of further advancements in enhancing PLA's tensile properties when
reinforced with metal scrap particles. Further, this research provoked the
development of PLA matrix composites through additive manufacturing techniques
with metal scrap particle reinforcement to strengthen the polymer, emphasizing
the prominence of achieving a robust interfacial bond between the matrix and the
reinforcing phases.
