Novel 3D printing filament composite using diatomaceous earth and polylactic acid for materials properties and cost improvement

There are a large variety of different materials currently used for producing 3D printing filaments. In this paper we are investigating the utilization of diatomaceous earth as a potential component for polylactic acid based 3D printing composite materials. The results clearly show that with only minor deterioration of the basic mechanical properties of the 3D printed material at least 10 wt% of the polylactic acid usage can be reduced and replaced by diatomaceous earth. Our thermal analysis also shows nucleation and chain mobility phenomena in the presence of diatomaceous earth particles. The results also show that we are able to engineer 3D printing surfaces with diatomaceous earth protruding from the composite structure and thus allowing us to create high surface area on the 3D printed objects surface. With this research we have shown for the first time an opportunity for cost reduction compared to using pure polylactic acid filaments and a pathway to immobilizing chemical sensing, antibacterial and antiviral agents on 3D printed objects for many applications such as biomedical.