RT journal article
T1 Large Format Additive Manufacturing of Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by Material Extrusion
A1 Burgos Pintos, Pedro
A1 Sanz de León, Alberto
A1 Molina Rubio, Sergio Ignacio
A2 Ciencia de los Materiales e Ingeniería Metalúrgica y Química Inorgánica
K1 Large format additive manufacturing
K1 Material extrusion
K1 PET
K1 Crystallization
K1 Mechanical properties
AB Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is an engineering material widely used in packaging and cosmetics, given its excellent mechanical properties, water resistance and recyclability. PET is typically manufactured by injection blow molding but its use in additive manufacturing (AM) is not spread enough due to its (semi)crystalline behavior, which makes it difficult to process by Material Extrusion (ME) technologies. Alternatively, polyethylene terephthalate glycol copolymer (PETG), a fully amorphous material, is used in these technologies. However, PETG has worse mechanical properties than PET. In this context, this work studies the viability of different commercial PET by ME for Large Format Additive Manufacturing (LFAM). While PET for general purposes (PET1 and PET2) could not be printed, a marketable PET for thick-walled products (PET3) allowed to manufacture different objects by ME-LFAM with good dimensional accuracy. DSC and XRD studies evidenced that its slow crystallizing behavior was key to obtaining a proper flow and a successful printing. Young’s modulus and tensile strength of PET3 was significantly higher than those of PETG, both from this work and in previous reports found in the literature, since it remains semicrystalline after printing. This allows expanding the library of materials available for AM, positioning PET as a potential material for those industrial applications where PETG does not meet the necessary mechanical requirements.
PB Elsevier
SN 2214-8604
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/31272
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/31272
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 07-nov-2026