Mechanical Strength of Bamboo Filled PLA Composite Material in Fused Filament Fabrication

Abstract

Through the past two decades, there has been a continued push for renewable resources and future sustainability of materials and processes. This has prompted more developments of providing environmentally friendly practices and products, both in terms of higher recyclability and greater use of renewable resources. An important area of interest are materials for construction and manufacturing purposes, specifically “green” sustainable reinforcement materials for thermoplastic composite materials. During this time, there has also been an evolution in manufacturing methods. Additive manufacturing (AM) has continued to grow exponentially since its inception for its extensive benefits. This study aims to investigate an additive manufactured composite material that is a greener alternative to other composites that are not reinforced by natural fibers. A bamboo filled polylactic acid (PLA) composite manufactured by fused filament fabrication was evaluated in order to gather mechanical strength characteristics by means of tensile, flexure, compression, impact, and shear tests. In this material, the bamboo reinforcing material and the PLA matrix material can both be sourced from highly renewable resources. In this study, a variety of test samples were manufactured at different manufacturing parameters to be used for mechanical testing. The results were recorded with respect to varying manufacturing parameters (raster angle orientation). It was found that the 0° raster angle orientation performed the best in every category except tensile. Additively manufactured bamboo filled PLA was also seen to have comparable strength to certain traditionally manufactured bamboo fiber reinforced plastics.