Multi-material 3D printing of smart composites

Abstract

In the past two-decades number of studies have been reported on the use of fused filament fabrication (FFF) based meta-structures. But hitherto little has been reported on the preparation of multi-pattern meta-structure with tunable mechanical and surface properties. The aim of this study is to 3D print the meta-structure of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) with tunable mechanical and surface properties as an innovative solution. In this study, meta-structures were 3D printed by varying the design pattern, infill density, and wall count (no. of top layers). The 3D-printed specimens were subjected to flexural testing for investigating the influences of FFF process parameters. The results of the study suggested that 3D printed meta-structure has the maximum flexural modulus (FM) and surface hardness when printed by considering pattern type:line (with 60% infill density) in the first zone-zigzag (with 80%infill density) in the second zone-cross (with 40% infill density) in the third zone with 10, 6 and 8 no. of top layers respectively. The results have been supported by surface roughness (Ra), and optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis.