Increasing the strength of plastic
Posted by ProDigit
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Increasing the strength of plastic September 03, 2011 09:46AM |
In the past I've worked for a plastic factory; so I know what base materials they use to increase the toughness of plastic, and what materials do what to the plastic, however I do not know the right doses of those materials, and do not know if those materials do any damage to the extruder.
Many of the materials I've used in the past generally can only be found in local industrial plants and on industrial scale.
However there's a mineral that can be gotten every where, that is affordable, namely calcium powder.
I wanted to know if many people have tried playing around with the plastic's strength, and the effects on their extruder/printer?
I can't give you exact details but there are plastics out there, that require upto 2% of calcium (or perhaps even more).
I generally was in charge of making those plastics, but the extruder-plastic/base-material ratio was done by a night shift operator, so we'd never really know the exact ratio.
Apart from calcium (which was dosed 50% into bins, which later where diluted into the extruder), there where materials like talcum, Zinc, titanium dioxide (usually dosed around 10% into bins), and plenty of chemically or industrially made compounds which names I can not remember or are specifically made for the company I used to work for, and thus can not name for legal reasons.
Some of these materials where to strengthen plastic, others to make them more UV resistant, again others specifically made to isolate smells, or be gasoline resistant.
From the data I gathered, just providing a thin layer of titanium dioxide or calcium (calcium probably being the cheaper one) on the base plastic should strengthen the plastic dramatically!
I don't dare to experiment with those, as adding base materials to the plastic could require you to change the extruder temperature, and could possibly also clog up the extruder.
Anyone has experimented with these materials,and care to share?
Many of the materials I've used in the past generally can only be found in local industrial plants and on industrial scale.
However there's a mineral that can be gotten every where, that is affordable, namely calcium powder.
I wanted to know if many people have tried playing around with the plastic's strength, and the effects on their extruder/printer?
I can't give you exact details but there are plastics out there, that require upto 2% of calcium (or perhaps even more).
I generally was in charge of making those plastics, but the extruder-plastic/base-material ratio was done by a night shift operator, so we'd never really know the exact ratio.
Apart from calcium (which was dosed 50% into bins, which later where diluted into the extruder), there where materials like talcum, Zinc, titanium dioxide (usually dosed around 10% into bins), and plenty of chemically or industrially made compounds which names I can not remember or are specifically made for the company I used to work for, and thus can not name for legal reasons.
Some of these materials where to strengthen plastic, others to make them more UV resistant, again others specifically made to isolate smells, or be gasoline resistant.
From the data I gathered, just providing a thin layer of titanium dioxide or calcium (calcium probably being the cheaper one) on the base plastic should strengthen the plastic dramatically!
I don't dare to experiment with those, as adding base materials to the plastic could require you to change the extruder temperature, and could possibly also clog up the extruder.
Anyone has experimented with these materials,and care to share?
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Re: Increasing the strength of plastic September 17, 2011 08:54PM |
I don't know a huge amount about this, I'm studying engineering and not enjoying materials science 
I think the biggest problem with experimenting like this is simply because the extrusion machines to make 3mm filament are expensive and not under the control (at least I don't think so) of any reprappers, and it'd be hard to justify buying significant amounts of experimental and possibly useless filament. I must admit I'm a little curious to somehow add talc/calcium to my PLA, though I can't think of a decent way to do it apart from rubbing it on the filament and hoping a small amount makes it's way through my extruder. I'm really really hoping someone experiments with this, and I don't want to be disparaging in any way because it's so intriguing, but it won't be me I'm afraid because PLA with decent infill is strong enough for me at the moment.
I think the biggest problem with experimenting like this is simply because the extrusion machines to make 3mm filament are expensive and not under the control (at least I don't think so) of any reprappers, and it'd be hard to justify buying significant amounts of experimental and possibly useless filament. I must admit I'm a little curious to somehow add talc/calcium to my PLA, though I can't think of a decent way to do it apart from rubbing it on the filament and hoping a small amount makes it's way through my extruder. I'm really really hoping someone experiments with this, and I don't want to be disparaging in any way because it's so intriguing, but it won't be me I'm afraid because PLA with decent infill is strong enough for me at the moment.
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