Elastomeric additive manufacturing composition

Abstract

A composition useful for additive manufacturing is comprised of a thermoplastic elastomer blended with an aliphatic polyketone, wherein the thermoplastic elastomer is a continuous phase having dispersed therein separated domains of polyketone. The composition is useful for additive printing methods employing heating and extrusion of the composition to form extrudates that are printed an article comprised of fused layers of the composition. The composition facilitates the formation of extrusion based elastomeric additive manufactured articles.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A composition comprising:
 a thermoplastic elastomer blended with an aliphatic polyketone, wherein the thermoplastic elastomer is a continuous phase having dispersed therein separated domains of polyketone.   
     
     
         2 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic elastomer is a styrenic thermoplastic elastomer, polyether block amide elastomer or combination thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the polyketone is present in an amount of about 1% to 25% by weight of the composition. 
     
     
         4 . The composition of  claim 2 , wherein the styrenic thermoplastic elastomer is a block copolymer that has a form that is either A-B-A or A-B-A-B-A, where A is a vinyl aromatic polymer block and B is a conjugated diene block. 
     
     
         5 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the styrenic thermoplastic elastomer is a styrene-(ethylene-butylene)-styrene (SEBS) thermoplastic elastomer. 
     
     
         6 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the polyketone is present in an amount of 1% to 15% by weight of the polyketone and thermoplastic elastomer. 
     
     
         7 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the domains have an average size of about 0.1 micrometer to 1 millimeter. 
     
     
         8 . The composition of  claim 7 , wherein the domains have an average size of about 0.1 micrometer to 500 micrometers. 
     
     
         9 . The composition of  claim 2 , wherein the composition is comprised of the polyether block amide copolymer and the composition has one or more of:
 a Shore D hardness value of about 30-60;   a tensile strength @ break of at least about 5 MPa;   an elastic modulus of at least about 150 MPa; or   an elongation @ break—perpendicular of greater than 300%.   
     
     
         10 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the composition is a filament and the filament has a diameter of about 1 millimeter to about 3 millimeters. 
     
     
         11 . The composition of  claim 1  further comprising friction modifier. 
     
     
         12 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic elastomer is a polyether block amide copolymer. 
     
     
         13 . The composition of  claim 12 , wherein the composition has a Shore D hardness of about 30 to 60 an extension at break of at least about 300%. 
     
     
         14 . The composition of  claim 13 , wherein the composition's Shore D hardness is within 20% of the polyether block amide copolymer's Shore D hardness and the composition has a tensile modulus that is at least about 50% greater than the polyether block amide copolymer's tensile modulus. 
     
     
         15 . A method to form an additive manufactured article comprising:
 (i) Heating and extruding a composition comprised of a thermoplastic elastomer blended with an aliphatic polyketone, wherein the thermoplastic elastomer is a continuous phase having dispersed therein separated domains of polyketone through a print head to form an extrudate, and,   (ii) controllably depositing the extrudate into multiple fused layers to form the additive manufactured article.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the extruding is by a 3D printer having a Bowden tube. 
     
     
         17 . An article comprising an additive manufactured article comprising a plurality of layers fused or adhered together, wherein at least two layers are comprised of a composition comprising a thermoplastic elastomer blended with an aliphatic polyketone, wherein the thermoplastic elastomer is a continuous phase having dispersed therein separated domains of polyketone. 
     
     
         18 . The article of  claim 17 , wherein, the polyketone is present in an amount of 1% to 25% by weight of the thermoplastic elastomer and polyketone. 
     
     
         19 . The article of  claim 18 , wherein the thermoplastic elastomer is comprised of one or more of a styrene-(butadiene)-styrene (SBS), styrene-isoprene-styrene (SIS), styrene isoprene butylene styrene (SIBS), and/or styrene-(ethylene-butylene)-styrene (SEBS) or polyether block amide copolymer (PEBA). 
     
     
         20 . The article of  claim 17 , wherein the domains of polyketone have an average size of about 0.5 micrometer to 500 micrometers.