Effect of post treatment on tensile properties of carbon reinforced PLA composite by 3D printing

Fused deposition modelling (FDM) in 3D printing works with engineering-grade thermo-plastics to build strong, durable and dimensionally stable parts with the best accuracy and repeatability in almost all moulding technologies. These parts possess enough strength to be used as advanced conceptual models, functional prototypes, fabrication tools and auto parts in various engineering and non-engineering applications. Poly lactic acid (PLA) is a renewable plastic material offered as a low-cost material option for fast-draft part iteration. Carbon infused Poly lactic acid offers good tensile strength and various structural automotive, aeronautical and aerospace than pure plastic PLA. The present work focuses on the influence of post processing parameters on the mechanical properties of Carbon Reinforced PLA composite by 3D Printing. In this research, 15% of carbon infused in PLA and prepared as a filament of 1.75 mm diameter and the optimized printing parameters of 0.2 mm layer thickness, air gap 0.4 mm, 90 degrees orientations, 220 degrees C temperature with TiC nozzle were used. Two post treatment techniques were adopted and those are chemical treatment and heat treatment. The tensile properties are 70 MPa and modulus 3.5 Gpa with the optimal parameters compare to pure PLA with 45-60 MPa. After post processing, it is noticed that the samples obtained with the improved results of 80 MPa and 74 MPa in tensile strength respectively with the post treatment techniques. A significant improvement is observed in stated properties. It is also to be concluding that chemical treatment is giving much better result than the heat treatment process. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.