<p>Synthetic fibers such as glass and carbon fibers are usually added to polymers to improve their mechanical properties. These fiber-reinforced composites have been widely used in the aircraft and automotive industry. However, there are large amounts of waste generated after the end of the life cycle of glass fiber-reinforced composites. In the present study, the recycled glass fibers (rGF) were used to reinforce the polymer acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). The rGF were sized and compounded via a twin-screw extruder. The compounded samples were collected and loaded into a mold, heated at 220 °C, and then pressed in a Laboratory Press. The pressed plaques were cut into multiple slit-shaped bars, and then compression-molded into uniform bars. The rGF/ABS composites obtained were characterized using techniques including tensile testing, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), rheological analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Tensile properties of the dog-bone samples were tested on a servo-hydraulic testing machine to determine the tensile strength and Young’s modulus. The strain rate was set as 1.524 mm/min. The storage modulus of the rectangular samples was measured from 25 to 140 °C using a DMA via a multifrequency-strain mode. A dual cantilever clamp was used with a strain of 0.05%. The thermal stability of the samples was analyzed using a TGA in N<sub>2</sub>. Dry samples were heated from 25 to 70 °C at a heating rate of 10 °C/min and kept at 70 °C for 5 min. Then, samples were heated to 600 °C at a heating rate of 10 °C/min. The complex viscosity of the samples was determined using a Discovery hybrid rheometer within the linear viscoelastic region. Parallel plates with 8 mm diameter were applied for the frequency sweep test from 0.1 to 100 rad/s. Compared to neat ABS, the rGF/ABS composite had a 20% higher tensile strength and 110% higher Young’s modulus. In addition, the rGF/ABS composite had a 91% higher storage modulus (at 40 °C) compared to neat ABS. This suggests the reinforcement effect of rGF in the ABS polymer. The decomposition temperatures of both neat ABS and rGF/ABS composite were around 403 °C. The complex viscosities of both neat ABS and rGF/ABS composite showed a decreasing trend with increasing angular frequency. The shear-thinning behavior of the rGF/ABS composites is favorable for large-scale additive manufacturing, as it reduces the energy requirement for the 3D printing process. The use of the developed material as a feedstock for large scale additive manufacturing process was demonstrated, and it was successfully printed.&nbsp;</p>

Development of Recycled Glass Fiber-Polymer Composites for Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2021/volume/85543

ASME 2021 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE2021)

Supporting the need among researchers worldwide for additional online and multimedia content, ASME now offers the ASME Conference Video Collection. This platform will collect and provide long-term access to conference presentation videos, encompassing all technology areas within ASME's technical conference and events program. About 30,000-40,000 engineers across all mechanical engineering and related disciplines participate in ASME conferences each year. This includes authors of approximately 6,000 to 8,000 technical papers published by ASME, the majority of whom also submit video presentations for our virtual conferences. The video collection will be available as an add-on to existing product packages or as a separate subscription.