Experimental investigation of the mechanical properties of 3D-printed PLA resin composites reinforced with natural corn silk fibre

The current research focused on enhancing the tensile and bending properties of additively manufactured polylactic acid (PLA)-based resins via the stereolithography (SLA) technique by reinforcing with natural corn silk fibre extract at two different yields, 8% and 10%. The main goal of the study is to improve the mechanical properties by integrating natural fibres into PLA. Stereolithography is an additive manufacturing technology with a high-resolution printing process that enables researchers to control the complete material structure for producing specimens through composite material fabrication. In this work, cornsilk fibre extract of 8% and 10% is blended in different proportions of 5%, 8% and 10% by volume with the PLA resin, respectively. A magnetic stirrer is used to blend up the solution for perfect resin to make the tensile and bending test specimens using the principle of vat photopolymerization (VPP) technique as per ASTM standards. The study shows positive attributes about using eco-friendly, natural fibre-reinforced PLA composites for lightweight structures, even with current production limitations. The 3D printed (3DP) specimens are tested for tensile and flexural properties as per ASTM procedures in a universal testing machine (UTM). The tensile and bending test results revealed that specimens fabricated with natural corn silk fibre reinforced PLA resin performed well when compared to the normal PLA resin fabricated specimens. The ultimate tensile strength and bending strength values attained by the composite-made specimens are 65.87 MPa and 109 MPa, which are 84.62% and 103.3% higher than those of the specimens made with only poly lactic acid material. The obtained results show that the 3D printed corn silk fibre mixed PLA materials hold better lightweight applications in the aerospace and automobile sectors.