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Materials Science in Additive Manufacturing Natural composite filaments for 3D-Print

A B C

Figure 8. Schematic outline of the filament extrusion process based on varying fiber content and varying fiber specification, namely (A) pure PLA
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filament, (B) PLA filament mix including thin and short fibers, and (C) PLA filament mix including thick and long fibers
A C D

B

Figure 9. Orthotropic behavior in PLA specimens manufactured via the FDM process: (A) Mechanical test through the 3-point bending test rig,
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(B) print orientations for PLA specimens, (C) 3-point bending test results, and (D) numerical simulation results including fringe plots of von-Mises
stress distribution – Copyright disclosure –.
Abbreviations: FDM: Fused deposition modeling; PLA: Polylactic acid

mechanical properties in this area involved PLA as polymer be approximately 42% and 5% greater, respectively, than
matrix material. One mode of failure, which is commonly the properties observed in neat PLA components. In
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observed in NFRC, namely fiber pull-out, was also found another study, the mechanical properties in terms of the
to take place in NFRCF hence indicating poor adhesion ultimate tensile strength and Young’s modulus of neat PLA
prevailing between the fiber and matrix interface. In some filament were found to be around 57.5 MPa and 3200 MPa,
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cases, it was also observed that the mechanical properties respectively. Similar properties involving filament with a
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of biodegradable composites tend to be inferior to pure combination of PLA, PHA, and 10 – 20% fiber content, on
matrix material as a result of several factors pertaining to the other hand, were found to be around 25 MPa and 3750
the nature of natural fibers. The characteristics of various MPa, respectively. 72
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types of NFRCFs manufactured from diverse types of Similar to NFRC fabrication, the volume composition of
natural fibers are presented in Table 4. natural fibers by weight percentage had direct implications
For instance, the tensile strength and tensile modulus on the mechanical properties of NFRCFs. A general
in fiber-reinforced PLA composites comprising Kraft pine decreasing trend in the mechanical properties of the fiber-
lignin as fiber reinforcement were found to be around 48 reinforced composite filament was observed to occur with
MPa and 2.36 GPa, respectively, while those comprising increasing fiber content. Identical observations were
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flax fibers were found to be around 33 MPa and 3.4 GPa, found during the mechanical characterization of palm fiber-
respectively. The mechanical properties in terms of their reinforced polyhydroxyalkanoate (PF-PHA) composites
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tensile modulus and tensile strength of natural fiber- for 3D-printing filaments. In that study, the notable
reinforced composite components produced from 3 mm increase in the tensile strength was attributed to the strong
PLA filament reinforced with flax fibers were found to interaction observed between the fiber reinforcement and

Volume 4 Issue 1 (2025) 11 doi: 10.36922/msam.8533