Effects of Hot-Melt-Extrusion process parameters on the Feedability of Fused Deposition Modeling filaments

Abstract

Abstract Fused deposition modelling (FDM) has shown its advantages in the field of personalized oral medicine due to its low cost, simplicity and flexible manufacturing for on- demand doses. However, most pharmaceutical-grade polymers that can be hot-melt extruded do not have the mechanical properties for high-quality FDM feedstock, and it is considered a barrier to further development of FDM pharmaceutical applications. In this paper, the impacts of Hot- Melt Extrusion (HME) process parameters on the mechanical properties of FDM filaments is explored for the brittle polymer polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The results show that the feed rate greatly influences the mechanical properties of the filaments. Through the exploration of HME process parameters, the preparation method of FDM raw filaments has been further improved, and the application of brittle polymers in FDM pharmaceuticals has been broadened.