Sustainable Soda Lignin PLA 3D Printable Biocomposite Materials
Abstract
The accumulation of petroleum based plastics waste in the environment is one of the major issues nowadays. In order to replace the petroleum based plastics, biopolymers are the best candidate. Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing is of a rapidly growing interest due to the great potential for the use in various engineering applications. Especially, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is the most popular 3D printing technique which builds desirable parts by depositing a melted polymer through a nozzle in a layer by layer manner. PLA (Poly Lactic Acid), a polymer derived from plant sources is often used as a FDM 3D printable material with its good bio renewability and moderate mechanical properties. However, the largescale commercial applications of 3D printable PLA are hindered due to its drawbacks such as small elongation at break, poor impact strength, low heat deflection temperature. A form of composite materials with strong reinforcement would be a solution to overcome the aforementioned limitations. Combined with the increasing social concern for designing renewable and eco friendly products, has led to the consideration of Soda Lignin as an alternative fillers to conventional fillers such as carbon or glass fibers. In Malaysia, oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) is a type of mill waste from fresh fruit bunches which provides a huge raw material for the extraction of lignin. Once lignin can be reinforced into PLA, it could provide uncompromised improvements in elongation and toughness while maintaining the high modulus of PLA. In here, exploration and optimization of lignin extraction techniques along with a thorough understanding of the lignin as a reinforcement is investigated to successfully develop 3D printable Soda Lignin-PLA composite. Furthermore, Soda Lignin-PLA composites are optimally designed and synthesized as 3D printable filaments in order to develop 3D printable composites for lightweight parts with high stiffness and strength.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 14, 2022
- Source ID
- FA23861914082
Entities
People
- Jonghwan Suhr
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Sungkyunkwan University
- United States Air Force