Eco-Friendly High-Performance 3D Printer Filament from Polycarbonate Waste; How its Processability and Properties

Recently, the development of eco-friendly 3D filaments became a focus of researchers in additive manufacturing. Polycarbonate is one of the common 3D printing materials made from petroleum and non-biodegradable materials. In this research, to create ecological filament, polycarbonate from water gallon plastic waste was recycled through the extrusion process. To produce a filament with a diameter of 1.75 ± 0.1mm, the rate of the screw used in the range of 17-19 rpm, and the puller speed in the range of 10 – 11 rpm. The obtained filament was printed by using Creality Ender 3 S1 Pro machine. Printability properties such as defects and adhesion to the bed were investigated. The tensile strength and impact resistance of the product in longitudinal and transversal infill directions was measured according to ASTM D638 and ASTM D6110 respectively. It was found that in general, the tensile strength, modulus elasticity, and elongation in longitudinal directions are higher than in transversal directions. The tensile strength of recycled filament and commercial filament in the longitudinal direction was 39.54 ± 2.53 MPa and 37.38 ± 5.91 MPa respectively. The results show that filament from polycarbonate plastic waste is a promising material used as an eco-friendly filament.