The Nozzle Structure Design and Analysis for Continuous Carbon Fiber Composite 3D Printing

Abstract

The 3D printing technology for continuous carbon fiber composite can combine the advantages of high mechanical properties and unlimited model structure complexity to complete the rapid prototyping. Because of the continuity characters of the carbon fiber composite, if the nozzle temperature is too high, the nozzle will be blocked due to material excessive softening. But if the temperature is low, it can’t pile up in sequential layers. For this problem, the 3D printing nozzle structure was designed and optimized by the thermodynamic simulation, also, the relations between the nozzle structure and temperature field distribution was revealed. The rationality of nozzle design is proved by continuous carbon fiber 3D printing experiment.