Recycling Potential of Onyx Composite for Additive Manufacturing

The evaluation of product cycles has allowed companies to transition from linear to circular production and reuse collected material. However, recycling is only sometimes straightforward and involves the material history of thermal cycles, the recycled content, and other characteristics. Therefore, recycling processes’ adversities and products need to be studied. Thus, this study aims to obtain a recycled Onyx filament, a micro carbon fiber-filled nylon, and evaluate its recycling potential to produce 3D printed samples. Tensile tests, optical microscopy, and evaluation of the quality of 3D printed samples and filaments were conducted. Under the studied conditions, the recycled Onyx filament did not present a satisfactory performance for 3D Printing, leading to nozzle clogs and precluding the 3D printed samples from being completed. These problems have been related to previous work. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate Onyx recycling under other conditions, such as recycling conditions or adding virgin material during recycling.