Motivated by the lack of polymer welding information in the additive manufacturing (AM) field, this work studies the effect of diffusion phenomena in fused deposition modeling (FDM) of fluorinated thermoplastic binders. In particular, this study compares the anisotropic response of 3D printed binary blends of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) with the isotropic response of these blends fabricated via molding techniques. PVDF/PMMA filaments were produced by twin-screw extrusion and, subsequently, injection-molded or 3D printed into dog-bone shapes. Specimen mechanical and thermal properties were evaluated by tensile testing and differential scanning calorimetry, respectively. Results show that higher PMMA concentration not only improved the processability and increased specimen fragility but prevented the crystallization. Blends with a higher PMMA concentration demonstrated a better mechanical response than those with a lower amount of PMMA. Similarly, injection-molded samples revealed better mechanical properties compared to 3D printed specimens. The present study provides new data to improve the description of the effect of PMMA in processed PVDF/PMMA blends. This will be useful to optimize the mixture composition when producing energetic thermoplastics through FDM.

Diffusion phenomena in the fused deposition modeling process of fluorinated thermoplastic binders

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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