Abstract
The potential of 3D printed carbon composites as a material for advanced engineering applications was investigated by fabricating and testing of carbon fiber-reinforced composites using 3D printing technique. Three carbon fiber layups and a pure polymer were investigated. In the first configuration, the fibers were parallel to the direction of applied stress (0° orientation). In the second configuration, the fibers were perpendicular to the stress (90° orientation). In the third configuration, the fibers were orientated in diagonal pattern (± 45° orientation). The geometry of the test specimen was based ASTM D3039 protocol for testing composite materials. Compositional results indicated that the continuous carbon fiber filament used in the printer was composed of 39% carbon fibers. The specimens contained between 22–24% carbon fibers. Axial testing results indicated that the 90° fiber oriented specimen was the weakest, comparable or slightly weaker than the pure matrix specimen. The ±45° orientation of fiber improved the strength by a factor 3.5. The 0° oriented fiber reinforcement increased strength by a factor of 4 folds compared to ±45° orientation and about 22 folds compared to pure matrix or 90° orientation. The failure in the pure matrix, 90° and ±45° specimen occurred with clean fracture pattern in gauge section. The 0° sample failure occurred very close to the end taps portion with a great deal of delamination. The failure pattern for this configuration has led us to believe that its strength is even higher than that observed in the testing.
