**6.1 The 3D printing process of nanoclay-infused acrylonitrile butadiene styrene composite**

A modified nanoclay and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene filament were explored for the development of gear material. The process was achieved using 3D printing and infusion techniques, which were accomplished in four steps. Drafting gear samples using a computer-aided program was the first step. A gear was designed and drawn on a Solid Edge 2019 software by creating a specific dimension of the gear for creating an ISO metric file as shown in **Figure 6** and was saved as Standard Tessellation.

This file was then exported to UP studio for finalizing the printing parameters. Afterward, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene filament was infilled into a 3D printer set at 99% with no support. Simultaneously, nanoclay was dissolved in acetone using a 10:1 mixing ratio to facilitate uniform dispersion of particles. Subsequently, a layer of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene was printed, then a premeasured acetone/nanoclay solution was applied to the first printed surface (**Figure 7**).

**Figure 6.** *Gear sample drafted on Solid Edge 2019.*

**Figure 7.** *Acetone/nanoclay solution-coated acrylonitrile butadiene styrene layer [31].*

This process was repeated for six layers of printed nanoclay-infused acrylonitrile butadiene styrene-infused composite at equal spacing. All printed layers were coated uniformly to prevent vacuums in the 3D-printed composite. After the printing, the composite was removed and cured under ambient temperature. The effect of nanoclay infusing on the mechanical properties of 3D-printed acrylonitrile butadiene styrene was determined by varying loading from 0.5 to 5%. These investigations were conducted after 7 days.
