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Strong, tough and bio-degradable polymer-based 3D-ink for fused filament fabrication (FFF) using WS(2) nanotubes

WS(2) inorganic nanotubes (WS(2)-NT) have been incorporated into Polylactic Acid (PLA) by melt mixing to create a bio-degradable, mechanically reinforced nanocomposite filament. The filament was then processed by Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D-printer, and the morphology and characteristics bef...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Shalom, Hila, Kapishnikov, Sergey, Brumfeld, Vlad, Naveh, Naum, Tenne, Reshef, Lachman, Noa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7264276/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32483268
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65861-w
Descripción
Sumario:WS(2) inorganic nanotubes (WS(2)-NT) have been incorporated into Polylactic Acid (PLA) by melt mixing to create a bio-degradable, mechanically reinforced nanocomposite filament. The filament was then processed by Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D-printer, and the morphology and characteristics before and after printing were compared. We found that addition of WS(2)-NT to PLA by extrusion mixing increases the elastic modulus, yield strength and strain-at-failure by 20%, 23% and 35%, respectively. Moreover, we found that the printing process itself improves the dispersion of WS(2)-NT within the PLA filament, and does not require changing of the printing parameters compared to pure PLA. The results demonstrate the advantage of WS(2)-NT as reinforcement specifically in 3D-printable polymers, over more traditional nano-reinforcements such as graphene and carbon nanotubes. WS(2)-NT based 3D-printable nanocomposites can be used for variety of applications from custom-made biodegradable scaffold of soft implants such as cartilage-based organs and biodegradable soft stents to the more general easy-to-apply nano-reinforced polymers.