Effect of poly (ethylene glycol) on 3D printed PLA/PEG blend: A study of physical, mechanical characterization and printability assessment

The growing popularity of additive manufacturing in the science, industry is associated with high-quality products for futuristic applications. This study presents an in-depth characterization and analysis of the effect of poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) having molecular weight 6000 g/mol used with various concentrations (1%,3%,5%) to modify the 3D printed Polylactide (PLA) part. The influence of PEG on the morphology, structure, thermal, wettability and mechanical properties of the 3D-printed PLA/PEG part was investigated. Herein, the mechanical property of injection moulding, 3D printed specimens, and finite element analysis (FEA) simulation results were also compared. The structure and properties of PLA/PEG blends were different from those of virgin PLA. By DSC analysis, it was found that the glass transition temperature (T_g) and cold crystallization temperature decreased in the case of the PLA/PEG blend. From TGA it was observed that PLA/PEG blend was thermally stable. It was shown that with the addition of PEG into PLA the tensile strength and young's modulus decrease, whereas elongation percentage and impact strength increase predominantly. The contact angle results indicate that the addition of PEG lowers the contact angle value of the PLA/PEG blend (from 69.32 ± 1.4° to 45.67 ± 1.2°) and increases surface wettability. With 5% PEG loading, PLA/PEG blend showed optimum structural and mechanical properties together with simple processibility.