The Effect of Printing Parameters on Electrical Conductivity and Mechanical Properties of PLA and ABS Based Carbon Composites in Additive Manufacturing of Upper Limb Prosthetics

Crystals

Attila Pentek¹  Matyas Bene¹  Roland Told¹  Peter Maroti¹  Emese Molnar¹  Hajnalka Abraham²  Miklos Nyitrai³  Adam Schiffer⁴ 

[1] 3D Printing and Visualization Centre, University of Pécs, Boszorkany str. 2, H-7624 Pécs, Hungary;Central Electron Microscope Laboratory, Medical School, University of Pécs, Szigeti str. 12, H-7624 Pécs, Hungary;Department of Biophysics, Medical School, University of Pécs, Szigeti str. 12, H-7624 Pécs, Hungary;Department of Technical Informatics, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, Boszorkány str. 2, H-7624 Pécs, Hungary;

关键词: composite;    additive manufacturing;    ABS;    PLA;    carbon;    resistance;   

DOI  :  10.3390/cryst10050398

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Additive manufacturing technologies are dynamically developing, strongly affecting almost all fields of industry and medicine. The appearance of electrically conductive polymers has had a great impact on the prototyping process of different electrical components in the case of upper limb prosthetic development. The widely used FFF 3D printing technology mainly uses PLA (polylactic acid) and ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) based composites, and despite their presence in the field, a detailed, critical characterization and comparison of them has not been performed yet. Our aim was to characterize two PLA and ABS based carbon composites in terms of electrical and mechanical behavior, and extend the observations with a structural and signal transfer analysis. The measurements were carried out by changing the different printing parameters, including layer resolution, printing orientation and infill density. To determine the mechanical properties, static and dynamic tests were conducted. The electrical characterization was done by measuring the resistance and signal transfer characteristics. Scanning electron microscopy was used for the structural analysis. The results proved that the printing parameters had a significant effect on the mechanical and electrical characteristics of both materials. As a major novelty, it was concluded that the ABS carbon composite has more favorable behavior in the case of additive manufacturing of electrical components of upper limb prosthetics, and they can be used as moving, rotating parts as well.

【 授权许可】

Unknown