The chemical, mechanical, and physical properties of 3D printed materials composed of TiO2-ABS nanocomposites

To expand the chemical capabilities of 3D printed structures generated from commercial thermoplastic printers, we have produced and printed polymer filaments that contain inorganic nanoparticles. TiO2 was dispersed into acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and extruded into filaments with 1.75 mm diameters. We produced filaments with TiO2 compositions of 1%, 5%, and 10% (kg/kg) and printed structures using a commercial 3D printer. Our experiments suggest that ABS undergoes minor degradation in the presence of TiO2 during the different processing steps. The measured mechanical properties (strain and Young's modulus) for all of the composites are similar to those of structures printed from the pure polymer. TiO2 incorporation at 1% negatively affects the stress at breaking point and the flexural stress. Structures produced from the 5 and 10% nanocomposites display a higher breaking point stress than those printed from the pure polymer. TiO2 within the printed matrix was able to quench the intrinsic fluorescence of the polymer. TiO2 was also able to photocatalyze the degradation of a rhodamine 6G in solution. These experiments display chemical reactivity in nanocomposites that are printed using commercial 3D printers, and we expect that our methodology will help to inform others who seek to incorporate catalytic nanoparticles in 3D printed structures.