Mechanical performance of wood fiberpolypropylene composite sandwich structure fabricated by FDM printing technique

Yazid, Muhammad Danish (2024) Mechanical performance of wood fiberpolypropylene composite sandwich structure fabricated by FDM printing technique. Project Report. Melaka, Malaysia, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka. (Submitted)

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Abstract

FDM fabrication provides the flexibility to produce complex geometric sandwich structures. This study investigated honeycomb, rhombus and square sandwich structures constructed using 3D printing using filament made of wood fiber and recycled Polypropylene (r-WoPPC). The filaments were produced with single extruder by incorporating 1 wt%, 3 wt%, 5 wt% wood fiber into recycled polypropylene (PP) matrix. SolidWorks software was used to develop the sandwich structure model and which was then converted into STL files for 3D printing. The mechanical performance of the sandwich was investigated for tensile and flexural strength, as well as the filament's morphological and water absorption characteristics. The square sandwich structure had the highest tensile and flexural strength when compared to the rhombus and honeycomb structures, which had 30% and 17% higher tensile and flexural strength, respectively. Meanwhile, 3 % wood fiber loading in r-WoPPC filament resulted in the highest tensile and flexural strength for all three structures. Furthermore, the surface morphology for the filament with 3% wood fiber revealed a smooth surface with good wood fiber and PP matrix adhesion. Additionally, the filament containing 3% of wood fiber had the lowest percentage of water absorbed, indicating that the r-WoPPC filament has fewer voids that prevent water from absorbing into the composite.

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