A review on additive manufacturing of carbon fiber‐reinforced polymers: Current methods, materials, mechanical properties, applications and challenges

Abstract

Additive manufacturing has new revolutionary potential for carbon fiber‐reinforced polymers (CFRPs). Additive manufacturing of CFRPs combines the advantages of additive manufacturing such as customization, minimal wastage, low cost, fast prototyping and rapid manufacturing with high specific strength of carbon fiber. This article delivers a comprehensive review of additive manufacturing of short and continuous CFRPs. The article presents insight into different additive manufacturing techniques with an overview of commercially available methods for manufacturing short and continuous CFRPs. This review also includes mechanical characterization and analytical techniques discussed in the literature for CFRPs. The robust applications of short and continuous CFRPs in biomedical, electronics, and aerospace would highlight the importance of research and development in this field. In the end, drawbacks, recent innovations, and the future research directions underline the gap between research and commercialization of additive manufacturing of short and continuous CFRPs.

Various FDM Mechanisms Used in the Fabrication of Continuous-Fiber Reinforced Composites: A Review

“…Curing is induced by heat or suitable radiation and may be boosted by high pressure or the addition of a catalyst. Photo-curable resins, acrylic-based resins, and cyanate ether are among the commonly used thermosetting polymers [ 18 , 65 , 66 ].…”

“…It begins by drawing a plastic filament into a liquefier head using drive wheels and heating it until it reaches a semi-liquid state. The process concludes by extruding the semi-liquid material through a nozzle and depositing it on a platform to create a 3D object within a temperature-controlled chamber [ 16 , 17 , 18 ].…”

“…These include the dual extruder mechanism or ex-situ prepreg method (which uses one nozzle for depositing neat polymer filament and another for printing continuous reinforced fiber), and the in-situ fusion or simultaneous impregnation of dry fiber and matrix in the modified nozzle during printing [ 6 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. There are also other less frequently used mechanisms, such as 3D compaction printing, which are modified and developed versions of the two main mechanisms [ 18 , 28 ].…”

The influences of international standards on structural performance and fracture behaviour of 3D printed long fiber composite structures

“…Short fiber-reinforced additively produced parts have poor mechanical properties compared to continuous reinforced parts. The development of long fiber reinforcement 3D printed composites like Markforged Mark Two changed 3D printed composite parts into commercial products [8].…”

“…The machine can print different materials like carbon fiber, Kevlar, glass fiber as reinforcement, and onyx and nylon as matrix material. Markforged Mark two 3D printing works in a similar way as material extrusion technology, where melted filament is extruded through a nozzle onto the 3D printer platform, by adding multiple layers to form the component [8]. However, since the machine is a newly developed technology (Markforged Inc., USA), its products are not well studied [13].…”