Synthesis of carbon from waste coconutshell and their application as filler in bioplast polymer filaments for 3D printing

摘要

Environmental friendly plastics offer suitable alternatives to the hazardous non-degradable plastics. In this work, we explored biodegradable plastic created from BIOPLAST GF 106/02/PLA 75/25 blend (BPB) with carbon nanoparticles (CCSP10) derived from waste coconut shell. The CCSP nanoparticles were synthesized using high temperature/pressure reactor and characterized using analytical tools such as Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy to investigate the properties of as prepared carbon nanoparticles. The neat BIOPLAST GF 106/02 (BP) polymer and carbon infused BP polymer composite filaments were created from solvent based blending and extruded into filaments. The filament specimens were then characterized using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC), tensile and electrical conductivity tests. The influence of extrusion and monodispersed size reduced particles have potentially increased the mechanical strength by altering the structure of the polymer blends. The polymer composite filaments of BPB infused with 0.2 wt %, 0.6 wt %, and 1 wt % carbon nanoparticles show increased mechanical strength. The tensile strength increased by 50% compared to neat BP filaments with the increase in carbon nanoparticles content up to 0.6 wt% and then decreased due to agglomeration of particles. TGA showed that the presence of CCSP resulted in additional decomposition and decreased weight loss. The electrical conductivity tests proved that increasing the filler content increased the conductivity. These filaments are designed for 3D printing of polymer composite applications.