Continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRTPCs) with advantages of great mechanical properties and green recyclability, have been widely used in aerospace, transportation, sports and leisure products, etc. This study applied the 3D printing process for the integrated rapid manufacturing of CFRTPCs. The volume fraction and distribution arrangement of fiber reinforcement were designed to evaluate the effect of fiber arrangements on tensile properties of the printed composites. The experimental results proved that some outer and inner defects reduced the surface smoothness and tensile properties based on the analysis of macro and micro morphology. The fiber distributed evenly contributed to the dimensional precision and stability, as well as tensile properties. With the increasing fiber volume, the elastic modulus and ultimate tensile strength both approximately increased while the strain at break decreased. This work promises a significant contribution to the abilities of designing fiber arrangements to control tensile properties of 3D printed CFRTPCs.
Continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites with advantages of high strength, long life, corrosion resistance, and green recyclability have been widely used in aerospace, transportation and high-precision processing equipment, etc. 3D printing is an advanced additive manufacturing technology that enables the rapid manufacture of complex structures and high-performance composites. The aim of this study is to evaluate the precision and stability of 3D printed continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite structures and construct suitable mathematical models to predict tensile properties. Samples evaluated in this study were produced by varying the volume fraction and distribution mode (average and central mode) of fibers within the printed structures. The measured data proved the continuous fiber reduced the printing precision on width and thickness and the printing stability on thickness, while it improved the width stability in the XY horizontal plane. The printing precision and stability of samples with an average mode were slightly better than those of samples with a central mode. The tensile results of 3D printed continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites demonstrated that an increasing volume of fiber reinforcement resulted in the increasing stiffness and ultimate strength of tested samples. The average elastic modulus and ultimate tensile strength of samples with the average mode were higher than those of samples with the central mode, while the average strain at break was quite the opposite. Mathematical models of elastic modulus were established to achieve the relative errors 0.06% and 2.14% for checked samples, while relative errors of the mixing rule were up to 76.15% and 81.71%, respectively. Some typical defects affecting the surface quality and the fracture behavior of 3D printed samples were researched by the analysis of micromorphology.
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