A review on the potential of polylactic acid based thermoplastic elastomer as filament material for fused deposition modelling

Abstract

Currently, a range of sectors are implementing three-dimensional (3D) printing, which is a part of additive manufacturing (AM) technology via the fused deposition modelling (FDM) approach. As of now, various filament materials are available in the market and have their limitations. Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) blend as a filament material in 3D printing should be implemented to overcome the weakness of available filaments. TPE blend stands out due to its flexibility, thermoplastic-like processability, and renewability. Based on the findings, TPE blend filament can be made with polylactic acid (PLA) thermoplastic and elastomers such as natural rubber (NR) and epoxidized natural rubber (ENR). The TPE printed components will be flexible; tough with excellent thermal and mechanical properties. In this paper, the characteristics of TPE are being reviewed to show the potential of TPE material as filament.

Keywords

• 3D printing
• Additive manufacturing
• Fused deposition modelling
• Thermoplastic elastomer
• Natural rubber