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. 2022 Feb 2;14(3):600.
doi: 10.3390/polym14030600.

A Comprehensive Evaluation of Mechanical, Thermal, and Antibacterial Properties of PLA/ZnO Nanoflower Biocomposite Filaments for 3D Printing Application

Tongsai Jamnongkan  1 , Ornthiwa Jaroensuk  1 , Anchan Khankhuean  2 , Apirat Laobuthee  2 , Natee Srisawat  3 , Autchara Pangon  4 , Rattanaphol Mongkholrattanasit  5 , Pongthipun Phuengphai  6 , Amnuay Wattanakornsiri  7 , Chih-Feng Huang  8
Affiliations

A Comprehensive Evaluation of Mechanical, Thermal, and Antibacterial Properties of PLA/ZnO Nanoflower Biocomposite Filaments for 3D Printing Application

Tongsai Jamnongkan et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Functionalities of 3D printing filaments have gained much attention owing to their properties for various applications in the last few years. Innovative biocomposite 3D printing filaments based on polylactic acid (PLA) composited with ZnO nanoflowers at varying contents were successfully fabricated via a single-screw extrusion technique. The effects of the varying ZnO nanoflower contents on their chemical, thermal, mechanical, and antibacterial properties were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and tensile testing, as well as qualitative and quantitative antibacterial tests, respectively. It was found that the ZnO nanoflowers did not express any chemical reactions with the PLA chains. The degrees of the crystallinity of the PLA/ZnO biocomposite filaments increased when compared with those of the neat PLA, and their properties slightly decreased when increasing the ZnO nanoflower contents. Additionally, the tensile strength of the PLA/ZnO biocomposite filaments gradually decreased when increasing the ZnO nanoflower contents. The antibacterial activity especially increased when increasing the ZnO nanoflower contents. Additionally, these 3D printing filaments performed better against Gram-positive (S. aureus) than Gram-negative (E. coli). This is probably due to the difference in the cell walls of the bacterial strains. The results indicated that these 3D printing filaments could be utilized for 3D printing and applied to medical fields.

Keywords: 3D printing; ZnO nanoflowers; antibacterial property; biocomposites; poly(lactic acid).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there have been no competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Optical images of 3D printing filaments from (a) neat PLA and PLA composited with ZnO nanoflowers at contents of 1 wt% (b), 3 wt% (c) and 5 wt% (d), respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Average filament diameters from neat PLA and PLA composited with ZnO nanoflowers at varying contents.
Figure 3
Figure 3
FTIR spectra of ZnO nanoflowers, neat PLA, and PLA/ZnO biocomposite filaments.
Figure 4
Figure 4
DSC thermograms of neat PLA and PLA/ZnO biocomposite filaments.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Optical images of ASTM D638-14 type IV tensile test specimens of (a) neat PLA, (b) PLA/ZnO-1, (c) PLA/ZnO-3, and (d) PLA/ZnO-5, respectively.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Stress-strain curves of: (a) neat PLA, (b) PLA/ZnO-1, (c) PLA/ZnO-3, and (d) PLA/ZnO-5, respectively. Each curve indicates the sample number.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Effect of varying ZnO nanoflower contents on the mechanical properties: tensile strength (a), modulus strength (b), and elongation at break (c), of PLA and PLA/ZnO biocomposite filaments.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Inhibition zones of antibacterial activities of neat PLA and PLA/ZnO biocomposite filaments.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Percent antimicrobial efficacies for S. aureus and E. coli of PVA/ZnO composite filaments.
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