Influence of fluorocarbon treatment on the adhesion of material extrusion 3D prints on textile

Three-dimensional (3D) printing has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years in many application fields, for example in the aerospace, construction, industries, art, education, protection, security and medical fields. Some of these application fields of 3D prints depend on the adhesion of imprint polymers on textiles. Adhesion is the tendency of unlike surfaces to cling to one another due to the intermolecular and interatomic interaction of the two surfaces. This study investigated how water and oil resistant treatment of woven fabrics influence on the adhesion strength of 3D prints. The prints were produced from Onyx using Markforged Mark Two 3D printer on Fluorocarbon (FC) treated and untreated woven fabrics. The different printed samples were subjected to a 180° peel test for the full detachment of the prints from the fabric. The result showed that the treatment of the woven fabrics had a significant influence on adhesion force. Further, the results revealed that the treated woven fabric limited the penetration and passage of the melted Onyx through the fabric which gave low adhesion strength between the print and the fabric. The microscopic analysis revealed that the back of the detached 3D prints from the untreated woven fabrics contained many fibers still attached because of the high adhesion strength.