No abstract

Among engineering materials today continuous fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) show some of the highest stiffness and strength to weight ratios. To rival the traditional manufacturing methods of continuous FRP many investigations have sought to combine the outstanding mechanical performances of these materials with the freedom in design and the economic benefits of additive manufacturing (AM). This paper focuses on the fiber placement strategies and their interaction with Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) specific machine features. The goal is to develop and conduct test series to gain a deeper understanding of how the process, the polymer, and the reinforcement fibers interact. For this investigation different patterns of glass fiber rovings are embedded into specimens made from PA 12 on a Sintratec Kit printer. The rovings are put up onto a frame in varying patterns to be able to relate fiber tension and curvature as well as the stack height of intersecting rovings to the quality of embedding. Additionally the time of placement, the clamping and the interaction of the fibers with the recoater have been investigated. Based on these results an SLS printer with automated continuous fiber implementation will be developed in the future.