Development of Low-budget Conductive FDM-filament for Processing in Commercial Fused-layer 3D Printers

Abstract:
This paper presents insights on the manufacturability of conductive filament for FDM printing. Melting and dissolving processes were used to mix aluminum, copper, iron, steel, and silver powders into PLA and process them as filament. Thereafter, the filament was printed as samples and measured. It was found that the high oxidation and large surface area of the metal powders made it impossible to achieve good conductivity, and mechanical action during fabrication did not break down the oxide layer effec-tively enough. Only the silver samples showed a higher conductivity, which reflects the fact that silver oxide is conductive.