PETG/carbon fiber composites with different structures produced by 3D printing

Abstract

This research presents a novel methodology for simulating the failure of a 3D-printed engineering design structure. Fused deposition modeling (FDM) of polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG)/Carbon fiber (CF) material was utilized to develop and build the structure's topology. The mechanical characteristics of PETG/CF materials were evaluated through modeling, which was quantitatively linked to the experimental results. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to evaluate the fracture surface material before and after failure testing. The actual tests and numerical studies used five different fabrication structures which were correlated with deformation, force, and failure mode. ANSYS software was used with experimental results and finite element analysis (FEA) under both dynamic and quasi-static conditions. Five 3D printed materials of PETG reinforced with short CFs of approximately 7.6 μm in a weight fraction of 20% were investigated. The overall goal was to create a cost-effective and straightforward material production technology that can retain high mechanical strength while also providing suitable flexibility. The tensile test results of the 3D-printed PETG/CF solid structural design revealed a 23% improvement in yield strength over the other conventional structures. The study illustrates how FEA of 3D printing is used to evaluate the performance of a helmet chinstrap design with different production conditions, hence possibly reducing the product design and development time.