Electrical and Mechanical Properties of Fused Filament Fabrication of Polyamide 6 / Nanographene Filaments at Different Annealing Temperatures

Polyamide 6 (PA 6) nanographene composites are viable engineered nanocomposite materials with high potential for electrostatic discharge applications. This can be attributed to the ability of the nanographene particles in reducing the electrical resistivity of the parent polyamide 6 and in turn creating a conductive network for a controllable discharge of static electricity. In addition, PA 6 nanographene composites can also exploit the good mechanical properties of the parent polyamide 6, a structural thermoplastic ideal for 3D printing via fused filament fabrication (FFF). Hence, 3, 5, and 7 wt.% of NGP were blended with PA6 using co-rotating twin screw extruder to produce 1.75mm diameter for FFF using Lulzbot TAZ 6 3D printer. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to evaluate the degree of exfoliation of the nanographene and tensile and electrical resistivity test samples were manufactured via fused filament fabrication. The polyamide 6 nanographene composites were further subjected to annealing treatment at 80ºC, 140ºC, 200ºC and a comparison study was carried out on the observed tensile properties and electrical resistivity values of both annealed and not annealed treated.