Mechanical Behaviour of 3D Printed Parts with Continuous Steel Wire Reinforcement

Abstract

Parts in every type of geometric shapes can be produced thanks to today's popular technology 3D printers. The low strength characteristics of the produced parts prevent them from being fully widespread in daily life. There are previous studies regarding the addition of carbon fiber into the phase structure to increase the strength. In this study, as a new idea, reinforcement in the form of continuous steel wire was made into the phase structure. A new extruder design was adopted in order for both the phase structure and the reinforcing wire to create the printing at the same time. Research on the phase material, steel wire material and production pattern were made for the desired strength increase and printing quality. According to the test results, the production with steel wire-reinforced polymer Nylon material provided an approximately 7.76 times higher strength increase compared to the non-reinforced polymer Nylon material.

Fabrication and Performance of Continuous 316 Stainless Steel Fibre-Reinforced 3D-Printed PLA Composites

“…Increasing the copper wire’s above 0.4% resulted in little improvement in the tensile modulus, and the steel wire showed poor adhesion and bonding with the PLA during tensile testing. Gunes et al [ 45 ] evaluated the tensile strength of nylon reinforced with continuous stainless steel wire (50 μm in diameter) and demonstrated an increase in nylon tensile strength of 7.6 times when 3D printed in a concentric pattern.…”