Fused Granular Fabrication of 2D Material-Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites: Effects on Printing Quality, Mechanical Properties, and Tribological Performance

Fused Granular Fabrication of 2D Material-Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites: Effects on Printing Quality, Mechanical Properties, and Tribological Performance | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Fused Granular Fabrication of 2D Material-Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites: Effects on Printing Quality, Mechanical Properties, and Tribological Performance Nicolas Benito Mena Ramos, Sangharatna M. Ramteke, Max Marian This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8854365/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study investigates the incorporation of 2D materials as solid lubricant filler, particularly MoS 2 (in particle sizes of 1.5 and 12.5 µm), WS 2 , and Ti 3 C 2 T x MXenes, into polylactic acid (PLA) for mechanically and tribologically enhanced polymer matrix composites (PMC) using a simplified feedstock preparation method. Thereby, dry powder-pellet mixing process followed by Fused Granular Fabrication (FGF) is employed to avoid filament extrusion, aiming for scalable and thermally efficient production. Mechanical and tribological performance is assessed across varying filler concentrations (0.5–1.5 wt.%). While all reinforced samples exhibit improved tensile strength and hardness, these effects are mainly attributed to enhanced interlayer adhesion due to improved processability. In contrast, tribological testing reveals that the fillers influenced wear and friction behavior via material-specific mechanisms. Notably, the 1.5 wt.% MXene and small-particle MoS 2 composites achieve substantial reductions in coefficient of friction (up to 30%) and wear rate (up to 40%), attributed to the formation of stable, shearable transfer films. However, WS 2 shows detrimental effects, likely due to particle agglomeration and poor film formation. The absence of clear trends with concentration indicates a saturation limit in the dry mixing approach. This work validates the dry-mixing-FGF pathway as a viable route for functionalized PLA composites but highlights the need for process optimization and filler-specific tailoring to unlock the full potential of 2D materials as tribo-fillers. FGF Additive Manufacturing MXenes MoS2 WS2 Polylactic acid Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8854365","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":592624980,"identity":"4db41665-d27d-476c-9ad9-bc0ed32f3226","order_by":0,"name":"Nicolas Benito Mena Ramos","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nicolas","middleName":"Benito Mena","lastName":"Ramos","suffix":""},{"id":592624981,"identity":"828fca1a-4e2b-47da-af08-29db2ba06f7c","order_by":1,"name":"Sangharatna M. 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Thereby, dry powder-pellet mixing process followed by Fused Granular Fabrication (FGF) is employed to avoid filament extrusion, aiming for scalable and thermally efficient production. Mechanical and tribological performance is assessed across varying filler concentrations (0.5\u0026ndash;1.5 wt.%). While all reinforced samples exhibit improved tensile strength and hardness, these effects are mainly attributed to enhanced interlayer adhesion due to improved processability. In contrast, tribological testing reveals that the fillers influenced wear and friction behavior via material-specific mechanisms. Notably, the 1.5 wt.% MXene and small-particle MoS\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e composites achieve substantial reductions in coefficient of friction (up to 30%) and wear rate (up to 40%), attributed to the formation of stable, shearable transfer films. However, WS\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e shows detrimental effects, likely due to particle agglomeration and poor film formation. The absence of clear trends with concentration indicates a saturation limit in the dry mixing approach. This work validates the dry-mixing-FGF pathway as a viable route for functionalized PLA composites but highlights the need for process optimization and filler-specific tailoring to unlock the full potential of 2D materials as tribo-fillers.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Fused Granular Fabrication of 2D Material-Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites: Effects on Printing Quality, Mechanical Properties, and Tribological Performance","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-19 20:02:04","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8854365/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"0c15e775-70ea-4556-acd1-ed6105acdf6b","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 19th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-02T11:26:54+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-19 20:02:04","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8854365","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8854365","identity":"rs-8854365","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}