Delamination observation occurred during the flexural bending in additively manufactured PLA-short carbon fiber filament reinforced with continuous carbon fiber composite

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing is process of fabricating polymer, ceramics, metallic and composite parts with complex geometries by means of optimized printing parameters. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is an extrusion based 3D printing technology most commonly used for printing thermoplastic and fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite materials. This technique is extensively used due to its simplicity in usage, materials alteration and low cost and has the ability to fabricate parts with both short and continuous fibers. Continuous carbon fiber (CCF) are extremely lightweight, stiff and durable and when utilized as reinforcement material, they have a wide range of engineering applications. In this study, we are aiming to combine short carbon thermoplastic material with CCF to form continuous carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite (CCFRTC) material using FDM 3D printing technique. After the fabrication process, the additively manufactured composite specimen undertakes flexural bending test. During the flexural test, delamination occurred. This such caused was studied, discussed and explored by examining the fracture interface study using microscope's micrographs. At last, further study, recommendations and enhancement in the development were also presented.