Abstract
Additive manufacturing (AM), also popularly known as 3D-printing technology, is innovative as it manufactures a part by adding small portions of materials layer by layer, instead of removing materials from a larger bulk. This technology allows designers to create and manufacture many complex geometries. There are several AM techniques but this research focuses on fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique due to its relatively cheaper price tag and robustness. Although FDM is great at manufacturing complex geometries, the produced parts are weaker compared to the ones manufactured by the traditional techniques due to the weak layer adhesion, porous inner structure and poor surface finish. To overcome the limitations of the technology, this research was focused on reinforcing 3D-printed parts with continuous fibrous materials. In composite materials, previous studies show that among the numerous ways to inserting carbon fibers, direct insertion method yields the best results. Since none of the prior studies present standardized manufacturing and post-processing protocol, this research seeks to address this issue by developing and presenting the detailed protocols for both processes and fully characterize the created composite material experimentally. The result shows that heat-treated carbon fiber reinforced sample has exceptional increases in mechanical properties. Most notably, yield strength and resilience compared to the stock sample, increase by whopping 60% and 64% respectively.
