Mechanical Characterization and Predictive Analysis of Flax Fiber/PLA Honeycomb Sandwich Structures in FDM Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

The improved recyclability, renewability, and biodegradability of natural fibre composites have made them a hot commodity in recent years. Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) is extensively employed in additive manufacturing technology that can produce simple and complex structures. Using the FDM procedure, this research created honeycomb sandwich structures out of flax and PLA and studied their mechanical behaviour. At first, samples of 3D-printed composites and flax fiber/PLA filaments were tested under tension with infill angles of 0°/60°, -30°/+30°. After the honeycomb cores were made, researchers examined their mechanical behaviour in both the top and side fields. Core and skin components were then used to create honeycomb sandwich constructions. The mechanical behaviour was characterised by conducting compressive test and Flexural test. With know side of the material cell wall characteristics, analytical analysis was also used to forecast the honeycomb sandwich structure’s mechanical properties.