Experimental characterization and mechanical behavior of 3D printed CFRP

Abstract

Additive manufacturing technology is pointed as the next generation production process. It not just allows the manufacturing of high complex design but also reduces the required production time from model to part. The main obstacle that holds 3D printing from growing up is the weak rigidity of the deliver part. To address this issue, continuous carbon fiber is nowadays merged and included in the printing process. The printing technology of reinforcement carbon fiber is not yet mature and needs to be explored more. Understanding the mechanical behavior of the printed carbon fiber composites can help improving this process. The present study is a contribution enhancing the understanding of the behavior of 3D printing parts based on carbon fiber reinforcement. Four types of standardization tests including tensile, interlaminar shear (ILSS) and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) have been performed for the mentioned purpose. Furthermore, first tensile-tensile fatigue results are presented. The mechanical properties and their corresponding microstructure as well as the effect of the fiber volume fraction have been analyzed. While the amount of pores found must still be reduced, the printed samples already show a very promising mechanical behavior. The work also includes different numerical models for the validation purpose.