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Investigating the Feasibility of Processing Activated Carbon/UHMWPE Polymer Composite Using Laser Powder Bed Fusion

Activated Carbon (AC) is widely available at a relatively low cost, has a high porosity and is commonly used as a filter material for a range of applications. However, it is a brittle and friable material. Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) polymer is a tough engineering plastic that...

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Autores principales: Khalil, Yas, Hopkinson, Neil, Kowalski, Adam J., Fairclough, John Patrick A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9413371/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36015577
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym14163320
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author Khalil, Yas
Hopkinson, Neil
Kowalski, Adam J.
Fairclough, John Patrick A.
author_facet Khalil, Yas
Hopkinson, Neil
Kowalski, Adam J.
Fairclough, John Patrick A.
author_sort Khalil, Yas
collection PubMed
description Activated Carbon (AC) is widely available at a relatively low cost, has a high porosity and is commonly used as a filter material for a range of applications. However, it is a brittle and friable material. Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) polymer is a tough engineering plastic that has been used as a binder. The traditional method used in manufacturing AC/UHMWPE filters involves compressing AC/UHMWPE composite powder during heating in a mould. This process compresses the particles together and the materials undergo sintering. This process results in a low pore interconnectivity, which has a considerable impact on the filter’s efficiency. Selective Laser Sintering is a laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing technique for polymers. This has a number of advantages compared to the conventional technique and produces a porous structure with improved filtration efficiency. We propose that this is due to the greater pore interconnectivity. In this work, AC/UHMWPE powdered composites were prepared with different AC and UHMWPE ratios. The structure and properties of the AC/UHMWPE composite were investigated and characterised to assess their suitability for selective laser sintering. Particle size and morphology analysis were conducted, as well as density measurements, powder flow, thermal analysis, and crystallinity measurements. The results reveal that the addition of AC improves the UHMWPE flow. The thermal analysis results show that the intrinsic thermal properties of UHMWPE powder are not significantly affected by the introduction of activated carbon. However, thermal gravimetric analysis revealed that the onset of mass loss is considerably shifted (20 °C) to higher temperatures for the AC/UHMWPE composites, which is favourable for laser sintering. Additionally, the change in the composition ratio of untreated composite does not have a significant effect on the degree of crystallinity. Laser-sintered AC/UHMWPE parts were successfully manufactured using a commercial laser-sintering machine.
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spelling pubmed-94133712022-08-27 Investigating the Feasibility of Processing Activated Carbon/UHMWPE Polymer Composite Using Laser Powder Bed Fusion Khalil, Yas Hopkinson, Neil Kowalski, Adam J. Fairclough, John Patrick A. Polymers (Basel) Article Activated Carbon (AC) is widely available at a relatively low cost, has a high porosity and is commonly used as a filter material for a range of applications. However, it is a brittle and friable material. Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) polymer is a tough engineering plastic that has been used as a binder. The traditional method used in manufacturing AC/UHMWPE filters involves compressing AC/UHMWPE composite powder during heating in a mould. This process compresses the particles together and the materials undergo sintering. This process results in a low pore interconnectivity, which has a considerable impact on the filter’s efficiency. Selective Laser Sintering is a laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing technique for polymers. This has a number of advantages compared to the conventional technique and produces a porous structure with improved filtration efficiency. We propose that this is due to the greater pore interconnectivity. In this work, AC/UHMWPE powdered composites were prepared with different AC and UHMWPE ratios. The structure and properties of the AC/UHMWPE composite were investigated and characterised to assess their suitability for selective laser sintering. Particle size and morphology analysis were conducted, as well as density measurements, powder flow, thermal analysis, and crystallinity measurements. The results reveal that the addition of AC improves the UHMWPE flow. The thermal analysis results show that the intrinsic thermal properties of UHMWPE powder are not significantly affected by the introduction of activated carbon. However, thermal gravimetric analysis revealed that the onset of mass loss is considerably shifted (20 °C) to higher temperatures for the AC/UHMWPE composites, which is favourable for laser sintering. Additionally, the change in the composition ratio of untreated composite does not have a significant effect on the degree of crystallinity. Laser-sintered AC/UHMWPE parts were successfully manufactured using a commercial laser-sintering machine. MDPI 2022-08-15 /pmc/articles/PMC9413371/ /pubmed/36015577 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym14163320 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Khalil, Yas
Hopkinson, Neil
Kowalski, Adam J.
Fairclough, John Patrick A.
Investigating the Feasibility of Processing Activated Carbon/UHMWPE Polymer Composite Using Laser Powder Bed Fusion
title Investigating the Feasibility of Processing Activated Carbon/UHMWPE Polymer Composite Using Laser Powder Bed Fusion
title_full Investigating the Feasibility of Processing Activated Carbon/UHMWPE Polymer Composite Using Laser Powder Bed Fusion
title_fullStr Investigating the Feasibility of Processing Activated Carbon/UHMWPE Polymer Composite Using Laser Powder Bed Fusion
title_full_unstemmed Investigating the Feasibility of Processing Activated Carbon/UHMWPE Polymer Composite Using Laser Powder Bed Fusion
title_short Investigating the Feasibility of Processing Activated Carbon/UHMWPE Polymer Composite Using Laser Powder Bed Fusion
title_sort investigating the feasibility of processing activated carbon/uhmwpe polymer composite using laser powder bed fusion
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9413371/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36015577
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym14163320
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