Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Middle East International Conference on Contemporary Scientific Studies-VIII, Adana, Türkiye, 7 - 08 Ocak 2023, ss.152-161
Additive manufacturing is used frequently in the production of parts with complex
geometries. This production method has become increasingly common because there is no
need for molds, its production is cheaper and easier than other traditional methods, and the
produced parts require less assembly. For these reasons, additive manufacturing is used in
aviation, automotive, health, etc. widely used fields. However, due to the limited mechanical
properties of the materials used in the FFF method, where thermoplastic polymers are
produced, their usage areas are limited. For this purpose, it will be possible to expand the
usage areas by developing different materials in FFF type printers. For this reason, within the
scope of this study, filament production was carried out by blending TPU and PLA materials.
It is produced by extrusion method by FFF type printers, which is one of the filament additive
manufacturing methods. In this study, the aim of producing filament by adding TPU raw
material to PLA raw material at different rates is to obtain a tougher material by reducing the
brittleness of PLA raw material. For this purpose, a twin-screw extruder was used to
homogeneously mix TPU and PLA materials in different ratios. To ensure the homogeneity of
the mixture obtained from the twin screw extruder, the obtained material was again cut into
granule sizes and passed through the twin screw extruder for the second time. After obtaining
a homogeneous mixture, the granules obtained by shearing this mixture were dried in the
oven. The filament suitable for the standard diameter was finally produced with the help of a
single screw extruder to be used in the FFF type printer. To improve the printing quality, the
moisture in the filament was removed again in the oven environment. After these processes,
test samples were produced by using the obtained filament in an FFF type printer. The
mechanical properties of the samples produced by using an FFF type three-dimensional
printer were examined by 3-point bending, compression, impact, and tensile tests. According
to the results obtained, the PLA/TPU ratio with the highest impact resistance was determined.
Three percent by weight discontinuous hemp fiber was added to this determined mixture. The
reinforcement process was carried out using the side feed unit in the twin screw extruder.
Composite raw material with doping process was sized to granule size and dried to make it
ready for filament production in single screw extrusion. Then, a composite filament suitable
for use in FFF type three-dimensional printers was produced using a single screw extruder,
and mechanical test samples were printed on a 3-D printer using this filament. As a result of
the tests applied to these samples, it was observed that the natural fiber reinforcement
increased the elasticity modulus of the PLA/TPU mixture.