Anti-gravitational 3D printing of polycaprolactone-bonded Nd-Fe-B based on fused deposition modeling Jianlei Wang a, c , Hongmei Xie a , Lei Wang a , T. Senthil a , Rui Wang c , Youdan Zheng c , Lixin Wu a, b, * a Key Laboratory of Design and Assembly of Functional Nanostructures, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, China b Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, China c University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China article info Article history: Received 24 January 2017 Received in revised form 18 April 2017 Accepted 19 April 2017 Available online 20 April 2017 Keywords: Composite materials Mechanical properties Magnetic measurements Fused deposition modeling abstract Generally, fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing proceeds in the dependence of gravity, which restrains its application scenario. In this study, polycaprolactone (PCL) bonded Nd-Fe-B material filament for FDM process was prepared and a novel approach based on FDM was proposed to achieve anti- gravitational printing process by means of designing a magnetic platform. The effects of Nd-Fe-B con- tent, magnetic flux density of the platform and printing angle on mechanical, magnetic and thermal properties were investigated. Results indicate that the tensile strength of the fabricated part of 60 wt% Nd-Fe-B highly filled PCL approximates the neat sample in the presence of magnetic force. Also, when loading 60 wt% Nd-Fe-B, the presence of magnetic force in the FDM process exerts a positive influence, improving 23%, 29.8% and 24.1% in tensile strength, (BH) max and thermal conductivity, respectively. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction With the latest advances, additive manufacturing (AM) is developing at an incredible pace in the speed and accuracy of printing models with complex geometries and low manufacturing cost, representing a new edge on prototyping process evolution, which has captured the world's horizon nowadays [1e4]. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) invented and developed by Stratasys Inc. in the early 1990s is the trendiest technique among all AM technologies, showing high potentials for fabricating plastic parts with the capacity to compete with conventional processing tech- niques [5,6]. The applications of FDM process are comprehensive, ranging from medical treatment [7,8], mold design [9], engineering [10] to automotive [11], aeronautics [12] and semiconductor device area [13]. However, FDM printing process depends on the materials' gravity nowadays, which restrains its application scenario, such as outerspace or a bumpy moving car. It is meaningful to explore novel approaches to achieve printing process independence of gravity, which further expands application domain of FDM 3D printing. As one of the most important functional materials in modern life, Nd-Fe-B has been widely used in many fields as vital compo- nents for various electromechanical applications [14,15]. Polymer- bonded magnets are typically obtained by mixing magnetic pow- ders with a binder, such as mixing a thermoplastic polymer in an extruder or mixer and then subjecting the granule extrudate to injection molding or compression molding, which has expanding applications because of their superior mechanical characteristics, resistance to corrosion and facile processing conditions [16e18]. In this study, it is innovative to prepare Nd-Fe-B highly filled polymeric composites for FDM process to achieve anti-gravitational FDM process by means of designing a magnetic platform, combining bonded Nd-Fe-B with FDM 3D printing. Meanwhile, the effects of Nd- Fe-B content, magnetic flux density of the platform and printing angle on mechanical, magnetic and thermal properties were investigated. 2. Experimental details 2.1. The preparation of materials In this study, the Nd-Fe-B powders provided by XND Co. were * Corresponding author. Key Laboratory of Design and Assembly of Functional Nanostructures, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, China. E-mail address: lxwu@fjirsm.ac.cn (L. Wu). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Alloys and Compounds journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jalcom http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2017.04.210 0925-8388/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Journal of Alloys and Compounds 715 (2017) 146e153