Load-Oriented Nonplanar Additive Manufacturing Method for Optimized Continuous Carbon Fiber Parts

Abstract

The process of the additive manufacturing (AM) of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) parts based on the process of fused deposition modeling (FDM) has seen considerable research in recent years, which amplifies the importance of adapted slicing and pathplanning methods. In particular, load-oriented techniques are of high interest when employing carbon fiber materials, as classical methods, such as tape-laying and laminating, struggle with highly curved and complex geometries and require the costly production of molds. While there have been some promising propositions in this field, most have restricted themselves to a planar slicing approach, which severely limits the ability to place the fibers along stress paths. In this paper, a nonplanar slicing approach is presented that utilizes principal stress directions to construct optimized nonplanar constituting layers on which pathplanning can be carried out. These layers are oriented such that the effect of the weak interlayer adhesion is minimized. Support material is adaptively generated to enable the use of arbitrary part geometry. Furthermore, a continuous pathplanning method and post-processor are applied to yield manufacturing instructions. The approach is verified for its viability of application through experimental investigation on a multi-axis robotic 3D printer. This constitutes an important step in allowing the fabrication of CFRP parts to further utilize the possibilities of additive manufacturing.

Additive Manufacturing of Continuous Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites via Fused Deposition Modelling: A Comprehensive Review

“…When using carbon fiber materials, load-oriented processes are especially important for curved, complex, and curvature-based geometries that require the creation of expensive molds. Kipping and Schüppstuhl [ 19 ] and Kipping et al [ 20 ] underscored the significance of appropriate slicing and path-planning techniques. In their research papers, they presented a collection of methods designed to address issues such as highly curved and complicated geometries that are difficult to achieve with traditional techniques like tape laying and laminating, which also necessitate the expensive creation of molds.…”

Strength and Deformation Analyses of Selected Filaments for Large-Format Additive Manufacturing Applicable to the Production of Firefighting Water Tanks

“…In [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22], the authors also discuss the recent applications of fiber reinforced 3D printed polymers, high-temperature polymers, and the FDM 3D printing of thermoplastic elastomeric materials with different structural applications. References [21,22] summarized the current status of the high-temperature printing of thermoplastic polymers in light of identifying the key factors for the use of these materials for various industries.…”

Improvement of catheter tip morphology by mold material used for tip‐forming process

“…Silva properties of molds required when performing molding processes using special materials, such as carbon fiber, epoxy, biodegradable components, and titanium alloys, and use them to optimize the molding process. [12][13][14][15] However, very few studies have attempted a scientific approach to minimize flash, which is a major problem in the tip-forming process, which is essential for catheter manufacturing.…”

“…Silva et al and Kanbur et al conducted a study to improve molding performance by optimizing the cooling channel in the mold, 9,10 and Kuo et al conducted a study to analyze the molding characteristics by changing the cooling channel as well as the cooling process and consider the productivity in injection molding 11 . In addition, Kipping et al, Major‐Gabryś et al, Wang et al, and Waalkes et al performed research to analyze the material, heat transfer, and rheological properties of molds required when performing molding processes using special materials, such as carbon fiber, epoxy, biodegradable components, and titanium alloys, and use them to optimize the molding process 12–15 . However, very few studies have attempted a scientific approach to minimize flash, which is a major problem in the tip‐forming process, which is essential for catheter manufacturing.…”