A novel hybrid-reinforced polycarbonate filament for improving interlayer integrity and strength in fused filament fabrication

Increasing demand for high-performance 3D printed parts in engineering industries has given rise to demand for polycarbonate filaments with stronger and durable. This work develops reinforced polycarbonate filaments with the use of single screw extruder with five combinations. Novelty of the study is the production of multi-reinforced polycarbonate composite filaments and their structural and mechanical behaviour study in FFF based 3D printing. Objective is to find out the influence of basalt powder, graphene, carbon powder and the hybrid combination on the tensile strength, hardness, ILSS and micro structural features. XRD confirmed the successful incorporation of individual and hybrid reinforcements with the hybrid filament exhibiting the best multi-phase signatures. Progressive improvement of the mechanical performance of the material was observed, with the tensile strength reaching 110 MPa in the hybrid filament from 75 MPa in Pure PC, reflecting an improvement of 46.6 %. Hardness improved from 82 D to 91 D which was an increase of 11% and ILSS increased from 11.128 N to 24.646 N which was an increase of 121%. SEM analysis showed that the Pure PC displays more smooth morphology, and the morphology of modified filaments is more and more reinforced, and the filler dispersion in the hybrid composite is the most uniform, the voids are less formed, and the interlayer bonding is stronger. Hybrid PC + Carbon Powder + Graphene + Basalt Powder filament showed the best comprehensive performance, indicating that it has a good possibility of being used for the production of high-strength car part.