FUNCTIONALIZATION OF TEXTILES USING 3D PRINTING - ADD-ON TECHNOLOGY FOR TEXTILE APPLICATIONS TESTING NEW MATERIAL COMBINATIONS

摘要

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), offers new ways of textile surface modification or functionalization using fused deposition modelling technology (FDM). In addition to textile applications like buttons, accessories or 3D structured elements for home textiles (roller blinds, curtains) the possibilities of integrating a local reinforcement and protection function for sportswear as well as protective clothes can be considered as application fields. For this, a good adhesion and stability of the 3D printed structures on textiles are essential. In this paper, the adhesion strengths of the thermoplastic Soft PLA printed on different textile surfaces were tested, which included the adaptation of an existing testing method with respect to separation force measurements. In this context, in addition to 3D printer settings and different combinations of Soft PLA and textile materials, the influences of textile physical and chemical surface properties such as weaves, surface roughness and after plasma treatment or washing were investigated. The experimental results demonstrated that the adhesion strength is mostly influenced by both the form-locking connections of the thermoplastic and the textile material (above and inside the textile) and the textile surface energy (i.e. the wetting behaviour of the molten polymer on the textile surface). These results can serve as a valuable basis for the application of 3D elements on textiles with improved and added functionalities like antistatic or conductive paths or plugs using adequate printing materials to be developed in the future.