RT journal article
T1 Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Reprocessed Polylactide/Titanium Dioxide Nanocomposites for Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing
A1 Bergaliyeva, Saltanat
A1 Sales Lérida, David
A1 Jiménez Cabello, José María
A1 Burgos Pintos, Pedro
A1 Fernández Delgado, Natalia
A1 Marzo Gago, Patricia
A1 Zammit, A.
A1 Molina Rubio, Sergio Ignacio
A2 Ciencia de los Materiales e Ingeniería Metalúrgica y Química Inorgánica
K1 additive manufacturing
K1 material extrusion
K1 nanocomposite
K1 polylactic acid
K1 recycling
K1 titanium dioxide
AB Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable polymer that can replace petroleum-based polymers and is widely used in material extrusion additive manufacturing (AM). The reprocessing of PLA leads to a downcycling of its properties, so strategies are being sought to counteract this effect, such as blending with virgin material or creating nanocomposites. Thus, two sets of nanocomposites based respectively on virgin PLA and a blend of PLA and reprocessed PLA (rPLA) with the addition of 0, 3, and 7 wt% of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2) were created via a double screw extruder system. All blends were used for material extrusion for 3D printing directly from pellets without difficulty. Scanning electron micrographs of fractured samples’ surfaces indicate that the nanoparticles gathered in agglomerations in some blends, which were well dispersed in the polymer matrix. The thermal stability and degree of crystallinity for every set of nanocomposites have a rising tendency with increasing nanoparticle concentration. The glass transition and melting temperatures of PLA/TiO2 and PLA/rPLA/TiO2 do not differ much. Tensile testing showed that although reprocessed material implies a detriment to the mechanical properties, in the specimens with 7% nano-TiO2, this effect is counteracted, reaching values like those of virgin PLA.
PB Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
SN 2073-4360
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/31782
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/31782
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 22-sep-2026