Study on mechanical performance of 3D printed composite material with topology shape using finite element method

Abstract

Application of the topology shape within a control space of the structure can ensure high energy absorption capacity, stiffness and strength for a load and boundary condition. In recent years, researchers have studied a continuous fiber 3D printing method with enhanced mechanical performance while being able to flexibly manufacture a complex shape in the application of a topology shape. Therefore, in this study structural analysis using a finite element method was performed for the conditions under which tension and bending load act on a continuous fiber 3D printed composite specimens with various topology shapes. To investigate the influence of topology shape on the mechanical performance, the diverse topology shapes were designed as a square, rectangle, rhombus, and hexagon. Also, to examine the effect of infill density, 40 and 80 holes were considered. As a result of finite element analysis, according to the topology shape, it was found that the rhombus has the highest mechanical performance under tension load. For the bending load, the hexagon has high strength and stiffness while being the shape that can be lightened. Additionally, there were shapes in which the mechanical strength was decreased or maintained even with the increase of the infill density, and the result was that the increase in strength and stiffness was not constant. In conclusion, it is necessary to perform an optimization design for not only the topology shape but the infill density to design an efficient 3D printed composite structure.