Investigations for Enhancing Wear Properties of Rapid Tooling by Reinforcement of Nanoscale Fillers for Grinding Applications

Abstract

In this work, investigations were made for enhancing wear properties of rapid tooling (RT) by reinforcement of fillers (nanoscaled) for grinding applications. The RT has been prepared by using biocompatible composite material (BCCM) feed stock filament (consisting of Nylon 6 as a binder, reinforced with biocompatible nanoscale Al2O3 particles) on fused deposition modeling (FDM) for the development of grinding wheel having customized wear-resistant properties. A comparative study has been conducted under dry sliding conditions in order to understand the tribological characteristics of FDM printed RT of BCCM and commercially used acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) material. This study also highlights the various wear mechanisms (such as adhesive, fatigue, and abrasive) encountered during experimentation. Finally, the FDM printed RT of proposed BCCM feedstock filament is more suitable for grinding applications especially in clinical dentistry.