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September 16, 2025Open Access

Production of TPU-reinforced 3D printing PLA filaments: Structural, Phase Transition and Crystallinity Properties

Key Points

The addition of TPU significantly influences the crystallinity and thermal behavior of PLA filaments, leading to lower melting points.
Findings indicate that TPU and PLA demonstrate good compatibility, attributed to the formation of secondary bonds, enhancing performance.
Structural analysis through ATR-FTIR confirms that the additives do not alter the characteristic behavior of PLA filaments.
Higher concentrations of TPU result in decreased chain mobility, impacting the glass transition temperature and overall filament rigidity.

Abstract

Polylactic acid (PLA) has emerged as a vital biodegradable polymer due to its significant potential to reduce environmental pollution and dependence on fossil-based plastics and PLA with improved properties were required in material science. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to examine the influence of both polyethylene-based colorant and termoplastic polyurethane (TPU) addition on the crucial features of PLA filaments. The neat and reinforced filaments were fabricated by extrusion method with five channels. The structural characterization, thermal behavior and crystallinity properties of the produced filaments were investigated meticulously by comparing the commercial PLA (eSUN). The obtained findings showed that the percentage of the additive substantially affected the main characteristic behavior of PLA filaments, thus, the optimum production level of the additives was tried to determine for the filament samples. ATR-FTIR analysis depicted that all the filament showed characteristic absorption bands and the structural character of the filaments did not affected by the additives. Moreover, TPU and PLA exhibited good compatibility thanks to probable secondary bonds formed. Furthermore, DS analyses revealed that ,at high TPU contents, no glass transition (Tg) could be observed due to the decrease in chain mobility, and Fetaplast filaments showed lower Tg values than the commercial one (eSUN). Moreover, cold crystallization temperature (Tcc) value of eSUN PLA filament shifted relatively higher temperature with the addition of TPU since the addition of TPU probbaly augment the rigidity of PLA. Additionally, melting point (Tm) of eSUN was found as 167 °C with sharp peak, while all other filaments depicted Tm at about 151 °C with little shifts by showing broader peaks. This melting temperature decrement was attributed to disruption of TPU and PE-based color (Albosa Masterbatch) fillers to crystalline regions of PLA by hindering their ability to align. Accordingly, the results showed that all Fetaplast filaments possessed relatively lower degree of crystallinity compared to eSUN.

Production of TPU-reinforced 3D printing PLA filaments: Structural, Phase Transition and Crystallinity Properties

Key Points

Abstract

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