The Effect of Styrene-Butadiene Rubber Waste Particle Size on the Mechanical and Thermal Behaviour of Polypropylene as a 3D Printing Material

Aqila Ekaputri  Ghaisani; Ganjar  Pramudi; Dody  Ariawan; Hammar Ilham  Akbar

doi:10.6180/jase.202606_29(6).0019

The Effect of Styrene-Butadiene Rubber Waste Particle Size on the Mechanical and Thermal Behaviour of Polypropylene as a 3D Printing Material

Aqila Ekaputri Ghaisani¹, Ganjar Pramudi²This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Dody Ariawan¹, and Hammar Ilham Akbar²

¹Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta 57126, Indonesia

²Manufacturing Engineering Technology, Vocational School, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta 57126, Indonesia

Received: August 10, 2025
Accepted: October 16, 2025
Publication Date: November 22, 2025

Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.6180/jase.202606_29(6).0019

Non-degradable tire waste poses a serious environmental issue, necessitating sustainable recycling approaches. This study investigates the effect of styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) crumb particle size on the mechanical, thermal, and morphological properties of polypropylene (PP) composites for 3D printing filament applications. A constant filler content of 5wt% was used with four particle size ranges mesh 50/60, 60/80, 80/100, and 100/120. Filaments were fabricated via extrusion and3Dprinted, followed by characterization using tensile testing (ASTM D638), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and particle size analysis (PSA). Results showed that finer SBR particles (mesh 100/120) led to the highest tensile strength (21.16 MPa) and elastic modulus (302.5 MPa). TGA revealed a slight decrease in degradation onset temperature from 249.9^◦C to 242.1^◦C, with residual mass exceeding 4.5% at 600^◦C. SEM analysis demonstrated improved interfacial adhesion and more uniform fracture morphology with decreasing particle size. Overall, the incorporation of finer recycled rubber particles effectively enhances composite performance and offers a promising route for tire waste valorization.

Keywords: Polypropylene, Recycling Styrene-butadiene rubber, Composite Filamen, 3D Printing, Particle Size

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