Effects of Printing Parameters on the Mechanical Properties of High-Performance Polyphenylene Sulfide Three-Dimensional Printing

Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) is a high-performance, low-cost special engineering polymer. The mechanical properties of three-dimensionally (3D) printed PPS samples are affected by the mass of the melt extruded filament and the printing pattern in the inner layer. The present study demonstrates the effects of the melt extrusion and filament alignment parameters on tensile, bending, and impact strengths of 3D printed PPS samples. The results indicate that by increasing the melt extrusion parameters, the tensile and bending strengths of 3D printed PPS samples can be improved and internal voids between adjacent filaments can be eliminated. However, the impact strength was restricted by excess melt extrusion. By measuring the strength of 3D printed PPS samples with different filament alignment, we observed that the tensile and bending strengths increase with decreasing angle between the filament and load direction. Moreover, the local tensile strain between adjacent filaments and slippage of the microstructure cell formed by aligning the filament are thought to absorb the impact energy. This study provides a useful guide for selection of appropriate printing parameters to realize a diverse range of mechanical properties for 3D printed PPS samples.