Effect of fiber content and fiber orientation on mechanical behavior of fused filament fabricated continuous-glass-fiber-reinforced nylon

Publication Date

1-1-2021

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Rapid Prototyping Journal

Volume

27

Issue

7

DOI

10.1108/RPJ-01-2021-0003

First Page

1346

Last Page

1354

Abstract

Purpose: Fused filament fabrication of continuous-fiber-reinforced polymers is a promising technique to achieve customized high-performance composites. However, the off-axis tensile strength (TS) and Mode I fracture toughness of fused filament fabricated (FFFed) continuous-glass-fiber-reinforced (CGFR) nylon are unknown. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanical and fracture behavior of FFFed CGFR nylon with various fiber content and off-axis fiber alignment. Design/methodology/approach: Tensile tests were performed on FFFed CGFR-nylon with 9.5, 18.9 and 28.4 fiber vol. %. TS was tested with fiber orientations between 0∘ and 90∘ at 15∘ intervals. Double cantilever beam tests were performed to reveal the Mode I fracture toughness of FFFed composites. Findings: TS increased with increasing fiber vol. % from 122 MPa at 9.5 vol. % to 291 MPa at 28 vol. %. FFFed nylon with a triangular infill resulted in 37 vol. % porosity and a TS of 12 MPa. Composite samples had 11–12 vol. % porosity. TS decreased by 78% from 291 MPa to 64 MPa for a change in fiber angle θ from 0∘ (parallel to the tensile stress) to 15∘. TS was between 27 and 17 MPa for 300 < θ < 900. Mode I fracture toughness of all the composites were lower than ∼332 J/m2. Practical implications: Practical applications of FFFed continuous-fiber-reinforced (CFR) nylon should be limited to designs where tensile stresses align within 15∘ of the fiber orientation. Interlayer fracture toughness of FFFed CFR composites should be confirmed for product designs that operate under Mode I loading. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study showing the effects of fiber orientation on the mechanical behavior and effects of the fiber content on the Mode I fracture toughness of FFFed CGFR nylon.

Keywords

Additive manufacturing, FDM, Fused deposition modeling, Porosity, Unidirectional fiber composite

Department

Chemical and Materials Engineering

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