Production of filament from (PLA or ABS) waste using custom made mini extrusion machine

• Main Author: Bryan Noel Sabinus
• Format: Academic Exercise
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: TS155-194 Production management. Operations management
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/34428/1/24pages.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/34428/2/FULLTEXT.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/34428/

A 3D printer is the 21st-century technology that is widely utilized across a wide range of sectors. It creates a three-dimensional desired object from a model created with Computer Aided Design (CAD). Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) and Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA) is a common type of plastic polymer that is used in the 3D printing. This study is regarding recycling waste produced from the mentioned material to identify the possibility to re-extrude it back become reusable filament. Modification of extrusion machine from previous study is done to make it functions in producing filament from waste material. For the result of the experiment, producing filament using waste from ABS is consider the most successful, the diameter ranging between 4.3mm to 2.5mm, hence tolerance is ±0.13mm. The hardness of ABS ranged from 48 to 66.5, the value decreases from its standard hardness value. As for the surface roughness, the filament produced is mostly smooth but still has other part that is rough. Morphological porosity showing high porosity content on ABS filament, and low porosity content on PLA filament. In addition, test for PLA is limited due to its brittle characteristic. Overall, the study of re-extruding waste material into ABS and PLA filament was a success, however it still needs a lot of work and further research to produce good filament.