Abstract
Fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP) have attracted much interest within many industrial fields where the use of 3D printed molds can provide significant cost and time savings in the production of composite tooling. Within this paper, a novel method for the manufacture of complex-shaped FRP parts has been proposed. This paper features a new design of bike saddle, which was manufactured through the use of molds created by fused deposition modeling (FDM), of which two 3D printable materials were selected, polylactic acid (PLA) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and these molds were then chemically and thermally treated. The novel bike saddles were fabricated using carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP), by vacuum bag technology and oven curing, utilizing additive manufactured (AM) molds. Following manufacture the molded parts were subjected to a quality inspection, using non-contact three-dimensional (3D) scanning techniques, where the results were then statistically analyzed. The statistically analyzed results state that the main deviations between the CAD model and the manufactured CFRP parts were within the range of ±1 mm. Additionally, the weight of the upper part of the saddles was found to be 42 grams. The novel method is primarily intended to be used for customized products using CFRPs.
Highlights
Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) often offer greater advantages than most other commonly used materials and are frequently used in many fields such as the aerospace, automotive, railway, naval, sports industry, medical, and civil construction industries [1,2]
The results have shown that the Fused deposition modeling (FDM)-based mold made of polylactic acid (PLA) successfully withstands the manufacture of CFRP components
This paper presented a novel method for the manufacturing of molds used to laminate complex
Summary
Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) often offer greater advantages than most other commonly used materials and are frequently used in many fields such as the aerospace, automotive, railway, naval, sports industry, medical, and civil construction industries [1,2]. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) or fused filament fabrication (FFF) is defined as a material extrusion process within ISO/ASTM 52900:2015 standard [4]. Due to the low production costs and the ability to feature a high degree of automation, the technology surrounding. FDM/FFF has developed in a relatively rapid fashion [5,6,7,8]. This technology allows for the manufacture of complex parts, at a relatively low production cost, from various thermoplastic filaments including
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