Tensile properties of 3D-printed wood-filled PLA materials using poplar trees

Samarthya Bhagia; Richard R. Lowden; Donald Erdman; Miguel Rodriguez; Bethany A. Haga; Ines Roxanne M. Solano; Nidia C. Gallego; Yunqiao Pu; Wellington Muchero; Vlastimil Kunc; Arthur J. Ragauskas

doi:10.1016/j.apmt.2020.100832

Tensile properties of 3D-printed wood-filled PLA materials using poplar trees

Samarthya Bhagia, Richard R. Lowden, Donald Erdman, Miguel Rodriguez, Bethany A. Haga, Ines Roxanne M. Solano, Nidia C. Gallego, Yunqiao Pu, Wellington Muchero, Vlastimil Kunc, Arthur J. Ragauskas

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

75 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fabrication of renewable materials through additive manufacturing using wood-filled polylactic acid (PLA) is an emerging field of study. The variability in the tensile properties of 3D-printed materials due to the variability in woody biomass properties has not been studied. Biomass size reduction, filament extrusion, and 3D-printing methods were investigated to determine the conditions that resulted in consistent printing. Using 20% ball-milled poplar reinforcement in PLA, 210 °C filament extrusion temperature and 230 °C printing temperature were found to be the best conditions. Subsequently, seventy poplar samples from a common garden were used to test the tensile properties of the printed materials. The median tensile strength at yield was 50 MPa, with 5–95 percentiles ranged in 37–54 MPa. Strain% at break had a median value of 2.1%, and 5–95 percentiles were 1.7–2.7%. The median Young's modulus was 3.65 GPa, and 5–95 percentiles ranged in 2.9–4.1 GPa. Biomass density was correlated to composite density. Median particle size of ball-milled poplar was negatively correlated with tensile strength. Composite density affected tensile strength of the composite. β-glycosidic bond of polysaccharides in biomass affected Young's modulus of the composite. These data show that genotypic variation among Populus trichocarpa have substantial effect on tensile properties of 3D printed PLA-poplar materials.

Original language	English
Article number	100832
Journal	Applied Materials Today
Volume	21
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmt.2020.100832
State	Published - Dec 2020

Funding

SB and AJR conceived the study. SB wrote the first draft of the paper and carried out material preparation, extrusion, 3D printing, tensile testing, imaging, spectroscopy and density measurements. RRL and DE provided access and supervision in tensile testing, MRJ carried out sorting, identification and knife milling of poplar blocks, BAH carried out debarking and chopping of logs into blocks, IRMS supervised in laser diffraction, and NCG provided intellectual input. VK provided guidance on 3D printing. ARJ, WM, YP, and VK wrote the proposal and secured the funding for this work. We thank Tyler Smith, Justin C. Condon, and John Lindahl at Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at ORNL for their support and assistance in 3D printing. We thank Prof. Siqun Wang and Center for Renewable Carbon (CRC) at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), for providing access to the fibrillation equipment. We thank Dr. Gerald A. Tuskan at ORNL for his suggestions on the paper. We also thank Emily Steiner and Andrew A. Wereszczak at ORNL for assistance in laser diffraction. This work was funded by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the US Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). The views and opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Samarthya Bhagia and Arthur Ragauskas conceived the study. Samarthya Bhagia wrote the first draft of the paper and carried out material preparation, extrusion, 3D printing, tensile testing, imaging, spectroscopy and density measurements. Richard R. Lowden and Donald Erdman provided access and supervision in tensile testing, Miguel Rodriguez Jr. carried out sorting, identification and knife milling of poplar blocks, Bethany A. Haga carried out debarking and chopping of logs into blocks, Roxanne M. Solano supervised laser diffraction studies, and Nidia C. Gallego provided intellectual input. Kunc provided guidance on 3D printing. Ragauskas, Muchero, Pu, and Kunc wrote the proposal and secured the funding for this work. The raw data required to reproduce these findings are available in supplementary information. This work was funded by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory , managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the US Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 . The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ). The views and opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.

Funders	Funder number
Center for Renewable Carbon
DOE Public Access Plan
John Lindahl at Manufacturing Demonstration Facility
US Department of Energy
United States Government
U.S. Department of Energy	DE-AC05-00OR22725
Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
University of Tennessee

Keywords

3D Printing
Additive Manufacturing
Polylactic acid
Poplar
Renewable Materials
Wood

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.apmt.2020.100832

Cite this

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title = "Tensile properties of 3D-printed wood-filled PLA materials using poplar trees",

abstract = "Fabrication of renewable materials through additive manufacturing using wood-filled polylactic acid (PLA) is an emerging field of study. The variability in the tensile properties of 3D-printed materials due to the variability in woody biomass properties has not been studied. Biomass size reduction, filament extrusion, and 3D-printing methods were investigated to determine the conditions that resulted in consistent printing. Using 20% ball-milled poplar reinforcement in PLA, 210 °C filament extrusion temperature and 230 °C printing temperature were found to be the best conditions. Subsequently, seventy poplar samples from a common garden were used to test the tensile properties of the printed materials. The median tensile strength at yield was 50 MPa, with 5–95 percentiles ranged in 37–54 MPa. Strain% at break had a median value of 2.1%, and 5–95 percentiles were 1.7–2.7%. The median Young's modulus was 3.65 GPa, and 5–95 percentiles ranged in 2.9–4.1 GPa. Biomass density was correlated to composite density. Median particle size of ball-milled poplar was negatively correlated with tensile strength. Composite density affected tensile strength of the composite. β-glycosidic bond of polysaccharides in biomass affected Young's modulus of the composite. These data show that genotypic variation among Populus trichocarpa have substantial effect on tensile properties of 3D printed PLA-poplar materials.",

keywords = "3D Printing, Additive Manufacturing, Polylactic acid, Poplar, Renewable Materials, Wood",

author = "Samarthya Bhagia and Lowden, {Richard R.} and Donald Erdman and Miguel Rodriguez and Haga, {Bethany A.} and Solano, {Ines Roxanne M.} and Gallego, {Nidia C.} and Yunqiao Pu and Wellington Muchero and Vlastimil Kunc and Ragauskas, {Arthur J.}",

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AU - Bhagia, Samarthya

AU - Lowden, Richard R.

AU - Erdman, Donald

AU - Rodriguez, Miguel

AU - Haga, Bethany A.

AU - Solano, Ines Roxanne M.

AU - Gallego, Nidia C.

AU - Pu, Yunqiao

AU - Muchero, Wellington

AU - Kunc, Vlastimil

AU - Ragauskas, Arthur J.

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AB - Fabrication of renewable materials through additive manufacturing using wood-filled polylactic acid (PLA) is an emerging field of study. The variability in the tensile properties of 3D-printed materials due to the variability in woody biomass properties has not been studied. Biomass size reduction, filament extrusion, and 3D-printing methods were investigated to determine the conditions that resulted in consistent printing. Using 20% ball-milled poplar reinforcement in PLA, 210 °C filament extrusion temperature and 230 °C printing temperature were found to be the best conditions. Subsequently, seventy poplar samples from a common garden were used to test the tensile properties of the printed materials. The median tensile strength at yield was 50 MPa, with 5–95 percentiles ranged in 37–54 MPa. Strain% at break had a median value of 2.1%, and 5–95 percentiles were 1.7–2.7%. The median Young's modulus was 3.65 GPa, and 5–95 percentiles ranged in 2.9–4.1 GPa. Biomass density was correlated to composite density. Median particle size of ball-milled poplar was negatively correlated with tensile strength. Composite density affected tensile strength of the composite. β-glycosidic bond of polysaccharides in biomass affected Young's modulus of the composite. These data show that genotypic variation among Populus trichocarpa have substantial effect on tensile properties of 3D printed PLA-poplar materials.

KW - 3D Printing

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Tensile properties of 3D-printed wood-filled PLA materials using poplar trees

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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