Additive manufacturing of fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites: advances, challenges, and prospects

Abstract

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the most widely used additive manufacturing (AM) processes, which is rapidly growing due to its simplicity and ability to manufacture complex geometries at low cost. However, FDM-printed pure polymers have low mechanical properties and are not suitable for structural parts. So, reinforced thermoplastic composites are suggested to enhance mechanical properties. Among the reinforcement types, continuous fibers offer the greatest improvement. Dual extrusion and co-extrusion are two common techniques used for printing continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites. Although FDM 3D printed polymers and composites are widely used in various industries, some defects directly affect the strength and appearance. Some of these defects can be controlled by optimizing printing parameters such as printing speed, raster angle, infill density and patterns, layer thickness, printing orientation, and nozzle temperature. However, other drawbacks required additional processes to be overcome. Hence, various types of treatment processes are employed to reduce these defects. Chemical treatment and heat treatment processes are the most commonly used processes for FDM-printed polymers and composites. This chapter will focus on reviewing, characterizing, and classifying defects and exploring different technical methods to reduce or eliminate them, in order to achieve better properties in 3D-printed polymers and composites via FDM. © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved including those for text and data mining AI training and similar technologies.