In Malaysia, India and Singapore, a group of researchers has developed a process for converting pineapple leaf fibers into filaments for 3D printing. Combined with polylactic acid, the biodegradable filaments were shown in the journal Polymer Composites to have enhanced mechanical, crystalline, chemical bonding and thermal properties.
“In particular, the characterization study reveals that the 3D printed composite with 3 wt% (alkali- treated) [pineapple leaf fiber] reinforcement exhibited maximum tensile and flexural characteristics,” according to phys.org.
The process was developed by Dr. Mansingh of Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College in India; Dr. JS Binoj from the Center for Advanced Composite Materials at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia & Institute of Mechanical Engineering, SIMATS; and Associate Professor Eugene Wong from Singapore’s Newcastle University.