Performance-driven 3D printing of continuous curved fibre reinforced polymer composites a preliminary numerical study

TL;DR

This study introduces a novel method for 3D printing continuous curved fibres in CFRP composites, using stress analysis to optimize fibre placement for improved strength and reduced stress concentrations.

Contribution

It presents a new performance-driven approach for fibre placement in 3D printing of CFRP composites based on finite element analysis.

Findings

Stress concentrations are significantly reduced with curved fibre placement.

Stiffness of CFRP composites is improved through optimized fibre paths.

Numerical results demonstrate enhanced mechanical performance.

Abstract

This paper presents a new concept to place continuous curved fibres for CFRP composites, which can be fulfilled by potential additive or hybrid manufacturing technology. Based on the loading condition, principal stress trajectories are generated through finite element analysis (FEA) and used as the guidance of the placement paths for carbon fibres. Three numerical cases, an open-hole single ply lamina under uniaxial tension and an open-hole cross-ply laminate under biaxial tension and normal pressure, are studied and compared with traditional reinforced composites with unidirectional fibres. The modelling results show that the stress concentration in both fibre and matrix are reduced significantly by the curved fibre placement and the stiffness of CFRP composites have been improved. This concept of performance-driven optimization method could lead to a useful tool for the design of future 3D printing process for fibre reinforced composites.