Abstract
Additive manufacturing of continuous reinforced polymer is currently a focus topic in the composite manufacturing industry as it represents a viable solution to satisfy the requirements of high volume production and automation that could facilitate expanding the use of composite materials and meet sustainability goals. Nevertheless, several challenges need to be addressed to increase the quality standards to match those of parts manufactured by standard composite processing routes. Specifically, consolidation issues appear to be the determining factor which hold the technology back. The present review paper analyses current consolidation techniques utilised in additive processing of composites and identifies the most promising current and future manufacturing technologies capable of complying with stringent sustainability, quality and cost standards.
Highlights
The current challenges posed by climate change force society and industry to shift towards sustainable practices at an ever faster pace
Composite manufacturing processes involve three steps namely, lay-up/forming, impregnation/consolida tion and curing/cooling resulting in a complex production chain asso ciated with high production costs and low productivity, which eventually reduce the envelope of applications
Thermoplastic resins are highly attractive for high end mechanical performance applications such as aerospace, due to their high fracture toughness, high damage tolerance and recyclability compared to ther mosetting resins
Summary
The current challenges posed by climate change force society and industry to shift towards sustainable practices at an ever faster pace. AFP/ATP are technologies which have been developed in the past 30 years [3,4] These processes have been investigated in depth and some have reached a level of maturity allowing production of composite parts with thermoplastic matrix with mechanical perfor mance comparable to that of components produced using traditional manufacturing processes (i.e. autoclave, hot press). The focus is on the state of the art of consolidation strategies applied to additive composite manufacturing processes This is considered a critical development to make the tran sition of 3D printing, which currently has the greatest versatility po tential, to primary structural applications as well as to simplify AFP and ATP solutions by removing post placement steps – in the spirit of the LbL process. A compaction roller pro vides compaction for dry bindered materials and consolidation for pre-
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