Effect of Silane-Treated Wollastonite on Mechanical and Thermal Properties of 3D-Printed ABS via Fused Deposition Modeling

The effect of the addition of epoxysilane-treated wollastonite (ETW) to the mechanical and thermal properties of 3D-printed acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) via fused deposition modeling (FDM) was investigated. The loading of ETW was varied at 1, 3, and 5wt%. The 3D-printed composites were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) tensile test, shore D hardness, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The addition of ETW increases the tensile strength, elastic modulus, and toughness of ABS by up to 46.6, 56.2, and 53.7 %, respectively. The shore D hardness increases with increasing ETW. Morphological analysis show that this improvement in mechanical properties is a result of the high aspect ratio of the fillers, the uniform dispersion of ETW in the ABS matrix, and the orientation of ETW particles toward the direction of tensile stress. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of the composites increases and the onset of degradation slightly shifted to higher temperature with an increase in filler loading. The addition of ETW to ABS matrix in FDM 3D printing improved the mechanical and thermal properties of ABS.