A continuous fiber-reinforced additive manufacturing processing based on PET fiber and PLA

Abstract

Continuous fiber-reinforced manufacturing has many advantages, but the fabrication cost is high and its process is difficult to control. This paper presents a method for printing fiber-reinforced composite on the common fused filament fabrication (FFF) platform. Polylactic Acid (PLA) and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers are used as printing materials. A spatial continuous toolpath planning strategy is employed to reduce the workload of post-processing without cutting the fiber. Experimental results show that this process not only enables the printing of models with complex geometric shapes but also supports material recycling and reuse. A material recovery rate of 100% for continuous PET fiber and 83% for PLA were achieved for a better environmental impact. Mechanical tests show that the maximum tensile strength of continuous PET fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites (PFRTPCs) is increased by 117.8% when compared to polyamide-66 (PA66).