Development of Pure Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) with Excellent 3D Printability and Macro‐ and Micro‐Structural Properties

Unmodified polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has low thermal stability and high hardness. Therefore, using plasticizers as well as thermal stabilizers is inevitable, while it causes serious environmental and health issues. In this work, for the first time, pure food‐grade PVC with potential biomedical applications is processed and 3D printed. Samples are successfully 3D printed using different printing parameters, including velocity, raster angle, nozzle diameter, and layer thickness, and their mechanical properties are investigated in compression, bending, and tension modes. Scanning electron microscopy is also used to evaluate the bonding and microstructure of the printed layers. Among the mentioned printing parameters, raster angle and printing velocity influence the mechanical properties significantly, whereas the layer thickness and nozzle diameter has a little effect. Images from scanning electron microscopy also reveal that printing velocity greatly affects the final part's quality regarding defective voids and rasters’ bonding. The maximum tensile strength of 88.55 MPa is achieved, which implies the superiority of 3D‐printed PVC mechanical properties compared to other commercial filaments. This study opens an avenue to additively manufacture PVC that is the second most‐consumed polymer with cost‐effective and high‐strength features. Pure food‐grade polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which are widely used in medical applications is processed and 3D printed. Byoptimising velocity, raster angle, nozzle diameter, and layer thickness, PVC is successfully 3D printed, and its macro/micro structural properties are investigated. A maximum tensile strength of 88.55 MPa is observed for 3D‐printed PVC that is excellent compared to the other commercial filaments.