Effect of masterbatch to the printing quality of polylactic acid

WANG Zhongfei, WEI Hui, JIN Ling

(The Ministry of Education Key Lab of Mechanical Manufacture & Automation,
Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China)

Abstract: Aiming at the problem of printing quality with different additives(masterbatch etc.) in polylactic acid(PLA), technological parameter was researched,a method was presented toadjustthetechnological parameter according to the PLA with different additives. A mathematic model of printing process was established based on the theory of material mechanics,anexperiment was designed to verify the influence that the additives(masterbatch, etc.) on printing quality.6 kinds of PLA materials with different kinds of masterbatch with the same batch, on the desktop FDM printer were tested and verified by the orthogonal experiment. The experimental results show that the masterbatch in PLA has great influence on printing quality. To obtain a better printing effect, the technological parameter should be adjusted because of the physical properties changed by the additives in PLA. The research can effectively guide the application of the PLA materials on desktop 3D printer.

Key words: polylactic acid (PLA); fused deposition modeling (FDM); fold deformation; technological parameter; masterbatch