Extrusion 3D Printing of Polybutyrate-Adipate-Terephthalate-Polymer Composites in the Pellet Form

Fused deposition modelling is a common 3D printing technique used for the freeform fabrication of complex shapes based on polymers. Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) is the common material option, though polylactide (PLA) has also proved to be a successful candidate. There is an ever increasing demand to harness new materials as possible candidates for fused deposition. The current research is focused on evaluating polybutyrate-adipate-terephthalate–polymer (PBAT) for fused deposition modelling. Both neat and composite PBAT filled with varying wood flour fillers were experimentally analyzed for 3D printing by extrusion from the pellet forms. The results are positive and the addition of small quantities of the wood flour filler material was found to improve the thixotropic nature of the polymer composite and consequently the inter-strand and inter-layer coalescence.