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Polymers
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Three-Dimensional Printing of Polymer Materials
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Three-Dimensional Printing of Polymer Materials

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 May 2025) | Viewed by 3353

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Soran Hassanifard

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Interests: materials characterization; fatigue and fracture; additive manufacturing; composites; finite element analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on the cutting-edge advancements in the realm of 3D printing of polymer materials. It delves into the latest technologies and methodologies employed in this rapidly evolving field, shedding light on innovative techniques that enable precise, efficient, and sustainable 3D printing processes. This Special Issue highlights the utilization of advanced polymeric materials and composites, offering insights into their enhanced performance characteristics and potential applications. Furthermore, it explores the crucial aspect of failure analysis in 3D printed polymeric parts, addressing the intricacies of structural integrity and quality assurance. By bringing together research on new technologies, materials, and failure mechanisms, this Special Issue serves as a comprehensive resource for researchers and practitioners striving to push the boundaries of 3D printing in polymer materials.

Dr. Soran Hassanifard
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • 3D printing technologies
  • material innovations
  • advanced composites
  • polymeric properties
  • failure analysis
  • structural integrity

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 6413 KiB  
Article
Optimizing Nozzle Structure and Parameters for Continuous Fiber Prepreg Filament 3D Printing
by Sheng Qu, Qi Zhang, Beiying Liu, Wei Li, Yesong Wang, Feilong Li and Jisheng Liu
Polymers 2025, 17(8), 1014; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17081014 - 9 Apr 2025
Viewed by 316
Abstract
Successful continuous fiber-reinforced composite filament 3D printing hinges on the synergistic relationship between the printing nozzle and precisely controlled process parameters. This research uses a simulation model to investigate how printing temperature, printing speed, and nozzle length affect the prepreg filament’s molten state [...] Read more.
Successful continuous fiber-reinforced composite filament 3D printing hinges on the synergistic relationship between the printing nozzle and precisely controlled process parameters. This research uses a simulation model to investigate how printing temperature, printing speed, and nozzle length affect the prepreg filament’s molten state during 3D printing. We employed the Box–Behnken response surface methodology to optimize these key parameters. Using continuous fiber-reinforced composite filament polylactic acid (CFRCF/PLA) as an example, and a printing nozzle with a 1 mm diameter and an 8 mm length of heating zone were designed. The optimal printing parameters were determined to be as follows: printing temperature of 220 °C, printing speed of 300 mm/min, and printing layer height of 0.2 mm. Experimental validation using the optimized nozzle and parameters demonstrated enhanced stability in continuous fiber prepreg filament printing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Three-Dimensional Printing of Polymer Materials)
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17 pages, 4302 KiB  
Article
Effect of the Interior Fill Percentage on the Deterioration of the Mechanical Properties of FFF-3D-Printed PLA Structures
by Akira Yamada and Kanta Tatebe
Polymers 2025, 17(6), 828; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17060828 - 20 Mar 2025
Viewed by 314
Abstract
Poly (lactic acid) (PLA), a biodegradable polymer, is widely used in medical applications, particularly for 3D-printed tissue engineering scaffolds. The fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printer is an available processing tool for PLA. The nozzle scan pattern and interior fill percentage (IFP) considerably [...] Read more.
Poly (lactic acid) (PLA), a biodegradable polymer, is widely used in medical applications, particularly for 3D-printed tissue engineering scaffolds. The fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printer is an available processing tool for PLA. The nozzle scan pattern and interior fill percentage (IFP) considerably influence the mechanical properties of formed structures and may have dominant effects on the rates at which the mechanical properties of PLA deteriorate. When the IFP is set to a low value, such as 80%, internal gaps form within the structure, leading to different deterioration patterns compared to structures formed under the IFP 100% condition. In this study, we fabricated test pieces with an FFF 3D printer using three different nozzle scan patterns. After immersing the test pieces in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) for up to 120 days, the water content was measured and the test pieces underwent tensile testing to determine the tensile strength, elastic modulus, and breaking energy. Both the deterioration rate and water uptake rate varied among the different nozzle scan patterns used for the fabrication. For the test pieces formed with internal gaps, the water uptake and deterioration proceeded in two stages. The deterioration rate of the structures with internal gaps was faster than that of the fully filled structures. The data obtained in this study will be useful for the design of PLA structures applied in tissue engineering. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Three-Dimensional Printing of Polymer Materials)
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15 pages, 4636 KiB  
Article
Impact of Rheology-Based Optimum Parameters on Enhancing the Mechanical Properties and Fatigue of Additively Manufactured Acrylonitrile–Butadiene–Styrene/Graphene Nanoplatelet Composites
by Soran Hassanifard and Kamran Behdinan
Polymers 2024, 16(9), 1273; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16091273 - 2 May 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1860
Abstract
This study investigates the interaction between static and fatigue strength and the rheological properties of acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) polymer reinforced with graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) in both filament and 3D-printed forms. Specifically focusing on the effects of 1.0 wt.% GNPs, the study examines their influence [...] Read more.
This study investigates the interaction between static and fatigue strength and the rheological properties of acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) polymer reinforced with graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) in both filament and 3D-printed forms. Specifically focusing on the effects of 1.0 wt.% GNPs, the study examines their influence on static/fatigue responses. The rheological behaviour of pure ABS polymer and ABS/GNPs nanocomposite samples, fabricated through material extrusion, is evaluated. The results indicated that the addition of 1.0 wt.% GNPs to the ABS matrix improved the elastic modulus of the nanocomposite filaments by up to about 34%, while reducing their ductility by approximately 60%. Observations revealed that the static and fatigue responses of the composite filament materials and 3D-printed parts were not solely attributed to differences in mechanical properties, but were also influenced by extrusion-related process parameters. The shark-skin effect, directly related to the material’s rheological properties, had a major impact on static strength and fatigue life. The proposed method involved adjusting the temperature of the heating zones of the extruder during filament production to enhance the static response of the filament and using a higher nozzle temperature (270 °C) to improve the fatigue life of the 3D-printed samples. The findings reveal that the proposed parameter optimisation led to filaments with minimised shark-skin effects, resulting in an improvement in ultimate tensile strength compared to pure ABS. Moreover, the 3D-printed samples produced with a higher nozzle temperature exhibited increased fatigue lives compared to those manufactured under identical conditions as pure ABS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Three-Dimensional Printing of Polymer Materials)
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