Enhanced Mechanical Properties of 3D-Printed Glass Fibre-Reinforced Polyethylene Composites

Optimisation of the tensile strength of thermoplastic polymer-matrix composites remains a scientific as well as technological challenge for 3D printing technology due to the mass application of composite materials. Inadequate mechanical properties are due to the mismatch in the surface energies of the polymer and fillers. In this study, an additively manufactured composite was 3D-printed and tested. The composite consisted of a linear low-density polyethylene matrix filled with glass fibres. Composite filaments were extruded from neat and plasma-treated polymer powders. Plasma was sustained in oxygen at 100 Pa by a pulsed microwave discharge, and 250 g of polymer powder of average diameter 150 µm was placed into a dish and stirred during the plasma treatment. The O-atom density at the position of the dish containing polymer powder was about 2 × 10²¹ m^-3, and the treatment time was varied up to 30 min. A gradual improvement in the composites' tensile and flexural strength was observed at the plasma treatment time up to about 10 min, and the mechanical properties remained unchanged with prolonged treatment time. The tensile strength of composites prepared from plasma-treated polymer increased by one-third compared to those based on untreated powder. However, reinforcing the modified polyethylene with plasma-treated glass fibres did not result in further significant mechanical improvement compared to untreated fibres. In contrast, strength values doubled using glass fibres with silane sizing in combination with plasma-modified matrix. The results were explained by the increased surface energy of the polymer powder due to functionalisation with polar functional groups during plasma treatment.