Thermal conductivity of copper filled polymer composites synthesized by FDM process

In the present investigation ABS pellets were blended with various weight percentage of copper powder using twin screw extruder to get 1.75 mm filament suitable for FDM process. FDM parts were built under optimized process conditions and subjected to thermal conductivity test by parallel conductance method. FDM parts built by ABS plastic filled with copper powder exhibited remarkable improvement in the thermal conductivity compared to FDM parts manufactured from pure ABS. Possible thermal conductance mechanisms involved in the copper filled ABS parts have been discussed extensively in comparison with unfilled ABS parts.