Examination of new FDM filaments for applications with large temperature variations

Today, 3D printing is no longer only used for rapid prototyping, but also for the production of customized objects, spare parts, etc. Among the various 3D printing technologies, the fused deposition modeling (FDM) process is the most widely used due to its simplicity, the mostly nontoxic polymers, and the availability of inexpensive printers and materials. However, the printed parts often exhibit mechanical and thermal inadequacies. Space applications in particular, such as microsatellites, require stable mechanical properties under periodically strongly changing temperatures. On the other hand, microsatellites and similar space applications are an area where mostly customized parts are needed, making 3D printing very suitable for such parts. New FDM-printable polymers can help to make this technology usable for space applications. Here we investigate novel FDM filaments with and without fibrous fillers before and after cyclic temperature variations between – 40 °C and + 80 °C, similar to the situation of a microsatellite in the low Earth orbit (LEO). Dimensional stability and mechanical properties were tested before and after cyclic heat treatment, showing a wide range of elastic moduli. Maximum bending forces, deflection at maximum force and tensile strengths remained nearly unchanged for most materials after heat treatment, in contrast to previous tests with standard FDM printing materials, suggesting that most materials investigated here can be used in environments with strongly varying temperature.