Development of eco-friendly composites based on polypropylene and cellulose for additive manufacturing (fused deposition modeling)

The paper is devoted to the preparation of a composite material based on isotactic polypropylene (PP) and a microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) filler for additive manufacturing. MCC was treated by polypropylene-graft-maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) in toluene solution. This method of modification had a compatibilizing effect on the composite structure. Filament samples of neat PP and PP composites loaded with either untreated or PP-g-MA-treated MCC were obtained by extrusion. Comparing technological properties of different filament types, it was stated that PP-g-MA modification conduced to lower shrinkage and uniform diameter of the filament. The developed filaments were employed to develop 3D polymeric devices with predefined geometry and porosity by fused deposition modelling with a prototyping machine.