Reinforcing effect caused by equal channel multiple angular extrusion of polymers manufactured by the FDM process: Experimental investigation and mathematical modeling

ABSTRACT The effect of orientation of the layers of the original structure of polymers produced by fused deposition modeling (FDM) on the reinforcing effect caused by succeeding equal channel multiple angular extrusion (ECMAE) is studied. As test objects, glassy acrylonitrile butadiene styrene copolymer (ABS), glycol‐modified poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET‐G) and semicrystalline PET are selected, as well as layered composites ABS/PET and ABS/PET‐G. It is demonstrated that ECMAE results in enhancement of microhardness, storage modulus, impact strength. The density, the glass transition temperature, the melting temperature are increased, too. The crystallinity degree of extrudates is enhanced. It is shown that an increment in the mechanical characteristics is better in the case of longitudinal position of the melt layers, as compared to the transversal one. The achieved effects are related to the pore healing, formation of orientation ordering, and enhanced interphase interaction and homogenization of the system in the course of production of layered composites of thermodynamically incompatible polymers. A physical model is suggested that describes the behavior of the layered materials under ECMAE. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 45727.