Effect of layer thickness on the dielectric properties of 3D printed polypropylene composite materials

Abstract

Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is a 3D printing technique which is widely used to fabricate complex geometries, however its application to high voltage engineering remains in its infancy. One major issue is that good dielectric materials such as polypropylene (PP) are unsuitable for 3D printing without modification, furthermore both interlayer boundaries and voiding can compromise dielectric performance. Printability can be improved by blending PP with other materials and in this current investigation, a commercial PP based filament has been employed to fabricate plaques of a fixed geometry whilst varying the number of layers from 2 to 5. In addition, the same material was compression molded to provide a reference. The thermal behavior was not impacted by 3D printing, however when a larger number of thinner layers was employed there was a reduction in the permittivity, electrical conductivity and AC electrical breakdown strength relative to the compression molded parts. The changes in dielectric properties were a direct result of the increased porosity arising from a greater number of interlayer boundaries.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Ian Hosier: orcid.org/0000-0003-4365-9385

ORCID for Dimitris Axiotis: orcid.org/0009-0000-5383-375X

ORCID for Orestis Vryonis: orcid.org/0000-0002-2862-4494

ORCID for Thomas Andritsch: orcid.org/0000-0002-3462-022X

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