Compressive Behavior of 3D Printed Foam

Abstract

Minimizing the thermoplastics weight is of paramount importance in shipping, aviation, industrial components, and submarine vehicles. Strain rates vary in the in-field loading scenarios and hence needs to be investigated as a function of filler content. In the present work, lightweight feedstock filaments are developed using glass microballoons (GMB) as filler and High-density polyethylene (HDPE) as the matrix. The blend is prepared by varying GMB content between 20 and 60 volume %. Filaments are fed to a commercially available 3D printer and subsequently printed samples are tested under compression (0.001 and 0.1 S-1 strain rates). Printed foams manifested higher moduli at higher strain rate as compared to neat HDPE. With increasing GMB content and strain rate, yield strength decreases. Energy absorption for foams increases with a higher strain rates. Specific compressive modulus increases while comparable strength is observed in prints as compared to HDPE.