We present preparation, characterization, and 3D printing of electrically conductive Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer. The electrically conducting ABS was prepared by doping carbon fibers (150μm in length, acquired from Nippon Graphite Corporation), at 200 ̊C by using a thermo-plasto mill, with different weight percentages (wt%) of carbon fibers in ABS polymer matrix. Electrical conductivity of samples with following weight percentages (10, 15, 25, 50 and 60 wt% carbon fibers in ABS polymer matrix) were measured using 4-point probe method [1, 2], with a result that percolation threshold occurs at 25wt%, as shown in Fig 1. SEM analysis (Fig. 2) shows uniform dispersion of carbon fibers in ABS polymer matrix, when compared to previously reported methods [3, 4]. Electrical conductivity of 1.013S/m is observed at 50 wt %. We employed melt extrusion technique in order to fabricate cylindrical filament with a diameter of 1.75 mm. A standard Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) type printer (Makerbot) was used to print the developed filament (Fig. 3). The developed ABS electrically conductive composite is being applied in applications, such as 3D printing of wires, circuits, sensors, resistors, heaters, robotics, MEMS and microfluidics devices.

References:

1. Khosla, A. (2011). Micropatternable multifunctional nanocomposite polymers for flexible soft MEMS applications(Doctoral dissertation, Applied Science: School of Engineering Science). http://summit.sfu.ca/item/12017
2. Khosla, A. (2012). Nanoparticle-doped electrically-conducting polymers for flexible nano-micro Systems. The Electrochemical Society Interface, 21(3-4), 67-70. doi: 10.1149/2.F04123-4if
3. Gray, B. L., & Khosla, A. (2010). Microfabrication and applications of nanoparticle doped conductive polymers. Nanoelectronics: Nanowires, Molecular Electronics, and Nanodevices, 227.
4. Khosla, A., & Gray, B. L. (2010, March). Fabrication of multiwalled carbon nanotube polydimethylsiloxne nanocomposite polymer flexible microelectrodes for microfluidics and MEMS. In Proc. SPIE (Vol. 7642, p. 76421V). doi: 10.1117/12.847292