Effect of multidimensional filler hybridization on the mechanical properties of thermoplastic polyurethane composites prepared by selective laser sintering

This paper aims to improve the tensile strength and thermal stability performance of selective laser sintered thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer/spherical alumina/graphene oxide/silicon nitride whisker (TPU/Al2O3/GO/Si(3)N(4)ws) composites by investigating the synergistic enhancement of fillers with different dimensions, and solving the problem of excessive porosity, material delamination, and low tensile strength during sintering of semi-crystalline polymer TPU problems. The results show that the synergistic effect of multidimensional fillers leads to the tensile strength of TPU composites up to 12.1 MPa at 8.9 wt% Al2O3, 0.1 wt% GO and 1.0 wt% Si(3)N(4)ws hybrid fillers, which is 38.9% higher than that of pure TPU. In addition, the elongation at break of TPU/Al2O3/GO/Si(3)N(4)ws composites was maintained at 254%, which still has good toughness. The effect of fillers on the selective laser sintering (SLS) process, thermal stability, melting, and crystallization behaviors of the composites was also investigated in this work. In general, the multidimensional filler compounding synergistically constructing a three-dimensional network structure has some improvement on the thermomechanical behavior of TPU composites with a fixed mass component addition.

Automated summary

This study aims to improve the tensile strength and thermal stability of selective laser sintered thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer/spherical alumina/graphene oxide/silicon nitride whisker (TPU/Al2O3/GO/Si(3)N(4)ws) composites by investigating the synergistic enhancement of fillers with different dimensions. The results show that the synergistic effect of multidimensional fillers leads to a significant improvement in the mechanical properties of TPU composites. Furthermore, the effect of fillers on the selective laser sintering process, thermal stability, and crystallization behaviors of the composites was also studied.