Investigations for machinability of primary recycled thermoplastics with secondary recycled rapid tooling

Abstract

This paper highlights the machinability of primary recycled thermoplastics as workpiece (WP) material with secondary recycled (reinforced) thermoplastic composites as rapid tooling (RT). Both WP and RT have been 3D printed on commercial fused deposition modelling. For investigating machinability of primary recycled thermoplastics, un-reinforced WP of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) has been selected. The RT materials were secondary reinforced (recycled) LDPE with double particle size Al2O3 particles and HDPE with triple particle size Al2O3. The machinability has been calculated in terms of weight loss of WP, while machining on a vertical milling set-up. This study also reports the surface hardness, porosity, surface roughness (Ra) and photomicrographic observations of WP and RT under controlled machining conditions. Further thermal analysis suggests that primary recycled thermoplastic can be successfully machined with secondary recycled RT, resulting in improved thermal stability and surface properties.