Effects of Infill Patterns on the Mechanical and Tribological Behaviour of 3D-Printed Polylactic Acid/Bamboo Biocomposites for Structural Applications

Composite materials are gaining attention owing to their exemplary characteristics and, if the materials are eco-friendly, they attract much more. One such composite of poly lactic acid (PLA) combined with bamboo fiber in the ratio of 80:20 is selected for this study. The composites are manufactured using additive manufacturing, or the 3D-printing technique. In this article, a novel approach of infilling a honeycomb with around 12 infill patterns has been made, and all the 3D-printed specimens were tested for their mechanical and tribological properties. The 3D-printed composites were characterized using Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) to evaluate their chemical composition and crystallite size (CS), respectively. Based on the results, the cross infill pattern outperforms irregular geometries like the Gyroid in terms of impact strength owing to its efficient stress distribution and superior interlayer bonding. By utilizing bidirectional reinforcement and distributing loads uniformly, the grid infill was able to attain the Shore D maximum hardness due to its strong 3D lattice structure; the Octet infill is very resistant to wear, which improves energy absorption and decreases material loss. Such honeycomb-filled 3D-printed composites can act as high-mechanical-strength components and find their applications in aerospace applications like drones and their allied structures.