Abstract
Discontinuous fibre composites represent a class of materials that are strong, lightweight and have remarkable fracture toughness. These advantages partially explain the abundance and variety of discontinuous fibre composites that have evolved in the natural world. Many natural structures out-perform the conventional synthetic counterparts due, in part, to the more elaborate reinforcement architectures that occur in natural composites. Here we present an additive manufacturing approach that combines real-time colloidal assembly with existing additive manufacturing technologies to create highly programmable discontinuous fibre composites. This technology, termed as ‘3D magnetic printing', has enabled us to recreate complex bioinspired reinforcement architectures that deliver enhanced material performance compared with monolithic structures. Further, we demonstrate that we can now design and evolve elaborate reinforcement architectures that are not found in nature, demonstrating a high level of possible customization in discontinuous fibre composites with arbitrary geometries.
Highlights
Discontinuous fibre composites represent a class of materials that are strong, lightweight and have remarkable fracture toughness
The printing of polymers has been accomplished mainly by extrusion-based methods for thermoplastics and stereolithography (SLA)-based photo-polymerization for both thermoplastics and thermosets5. 3D printing represents one of the most effective ways to manufacture customized parts with significant complexity; which explains its ubiquity in industry, academia and personal use[10]
In a movement toward micro-reinforcement, Compton et al.[19] developed an epoxy-based ink that allows for the 3D printing of lightweight cellular composites with high aspect ratio microfibers that are aligned by the shear forces generated during the printing process
Summary
Discontinuous fibre composites represent a class of materials that are strong, lightweight and have remarkable fracture toughness. We present an additive manufacturing approach that combines real-time colloidal assembly with existing additive manufacturing technologies to create highly programmable discontinuous fibre composites This technology, termed as ‘3D magnetic printing’, has enabled us to recreate complex bioinspired reinforcement architectures that deliver enhanced material performance compared with monolithic structures. Natural composites utilize reinforcing particles exquisitely organized into complex architectures to achieve superior mechanical properties including the shells of abalones[1], the dactyl clubs of peacock mantis shrimp[2,3] and the cortical bones of mammals[4] To grow these reinforcement architectures, biological systems invoke complex cellular and molecular processes. With greater precision over the reinforcing architecture, more complex and functional materials created via additive manufacturing will find application in a wide range of engineering disciplines
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