Influence of Manufacturing Parameters and Post Processing on the Electrical Conductivity of Extrusion-Based 3D Printed Nanocomposite Parts

The influence of manufacturing parameters of filament extrusion and extrusion-based Additive Manufacturing (AM), as well as different post processing techniques, on the electrical conductivity of 3D printed parts of graphene nanoplatelets (GNP)-reinforced acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) has been analyzed. The key role of the manufacturing parameters to obtain electrically conductive filaments and 3D printed parts has been demonstrated. Results have shown that an increase in extrusion speed, as well as lower land lengths, induces higher extrudate swelling, with the consequent reduction of the electrical conductivity. Additionally, filaments with lower diameter values, which result in a higher surface-to-cross-section ratio, have considerably lower electrical conductivities. These factors tune the values of the volume and surface electrical conductivity between 10(−4)–10(0) S/m and 10(−8)–10(−3) S/sq, respectively. The volume and surface electrical conductivity considerably diminished after 3D printing. They increased when using higher printing layer thickness and width and were ranging between 10(−7)–10(−4) S/m and 10(−8)–10(−5) S/sq, respectively. This is attributed to the higher cross section area of the individual printed lines. The effect of different post processing (acetone vapor polishing, plasma and neosanding, which is a novel finishing process) on 3D printed parts in morphology and surface electrical conductivity was also analyzed.