A novel method based on selective laser sintering for preparing high-performance carbon fibres/polyamide12/epoxy ternary composites

Abstract

A novel method based on selective laser sintering (SLS) process is proposed for the first time to prepare complex and high-performance carbon fibres/polyamide12/epoxy (CF/PA12/EP) ternary composites. The procedures are briefly described as follows: prepare polyamide12 (PA12) coated carbon fibre (CF) composite powder; build porous green parts by SLS; infiltrate the green parts with high-performance thermosetting epoxy (EP) resin; and finally cure the resin at high temperature. The obtained composites are a ternary composite system consisting of the matrix of novolac EP resin, the reinforcement of CFs and the transition thin layer of PA12 with a thickness of 595 nm. The SEM images and micro-CT analysis prove that the ternary system is a three-dimensional co-continuous structure and the reinforcement of CFs are well dispersed in the matrix of EP with the volume fraction of 31%. Mechanical tests show that the composites fabricated by this method yield an ultimate tensile strength of 101.03 MPa and a flexural strength of 153.43 MPa, which are higher than those of most of the previously reported SLS materials. Therefore, the process proposed in this paper shows great potential for manufacturing complex, lightweight and high-performance CF reinforced composite components in aerospace, automotive industries and other areas.

Recent Progress on Polymer Materials for Additive Manufacturing

“…Solution mixing Dissolution-precipitation CF/PA12 [196,208] Nano-SiO 2 /PA12 [197] OMMT/PA12 [197] OMMT/PP [140] • Good filler dispersion in powder particles HA/PLA [198b] Hectorite/PA6 [198a] Ca-P/PHBV c) [198b,209] CHAp d) /PLA [198b,209] • Good filler dispersion in powder particles • Good interfacial interaction possible • Solvent intensive…”

Recent Progress in Additive Manufacturing of Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite

“…b) Steps to fabricate carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite using SLS: 1) powder preparation, 2) SLS fabrication, 3) epoxy resin infiltration, 4) solidification. Reproduced under a CC BY 4.0 licence . Copyright 2016, Nature Publishing Group.…”

“…This is achieved by using either mechanical[70a,71b] and melt mixing or by coating the fibers using dissolution–precipitation and surfactant‐facilitated latex methods . Recently, Zhu et al developed short carbon fiber (CF) reinforced thermosetting composite by infiltrating porous PA‐12/CF with epoxy resin under high temperature and pressure (Figure b). Unlike other methods, the composite powder is prepared by coating a thin layer of PA‐12 on the CF surfaces to produce a porous green‐part before infiltration.…”

Nano-biphasic calcium phosphate/polyvinyl alcohol composites with enhanced bioactivity for bone repair via low-temperature three-dimensional printing and loading with platelet-rich fibrin

“…5 3D printing is a broad concept that can be classified as additive manufacturing. Common additive technologies applied in medicine include selective laser sintering, 12 fused deposition modeling, 13 multi-jet modeling, 14 stereolithography, 15 powder-based printing, 16 and robocasting. 17 All of these techniques can be used to rapidly fabricate products with specific shapes, well-defined internal structures, and highly interconnected porosities.…”