Abstract

Waste material valorization as a feedstock for net-zero waste manufacturing processes has emerged as a key sustainability strategy. Process technologies such as Additive Manufacturing (AM) have helped to limit material waste and allowed the production of complex designs with lower required costs and less time than other conventional manufacturing methods. In this study, an investigation of the addition of end-of-life Ground Tire Rubber (GTR) waste to a Polyamide 12 (PA12, nylon 12) matrix was conducted. Three different PA12-based powders were produced in a lab-scale environment with different weight fractions (wt.%) of reused GTR and specimens for static tensile, cyclic tensile, compression testing, Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), and vibrational analysis were designed assessing both the static and dynamic mechanical response. The specimens were 3D printed using Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) AM, a technique that promotes thermal coalescence between adjacent powder particles and successive layers, resulting in a more interconnected material structure and potentially reduced directional anisotropy compared to Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) AM, although process-induced anisotropy may still be present, while the material used has a low powder refresh requirement of 22%. The results showed that the introduction of reused GTR helped improve the damping properties of the material. Combining the strength of PA12 even at high thermal stresses with the increasing damping properties of the GTR can be vital for vibration isolators in industrial, structural, and automotive applications while simultaneously reducing the material footprint.

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