Quasi-static and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis of 3D Printed ABS and Carbon Fiber Reinforced ABS Composites

Abstract

Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is the most popular and widely used additive manufacturing process for printing polymer and composite products. Various production factorsinfluenced the strength and stiffness of the part manufactured by 3D printing. A comprehensiveexperimental analysis was conducted in this study to examine the effect of FFF process parameters (infilldensity, pattern, and layer thickness) on mechanical properties and their associated failure mechanisms. Tensile, flexural, and impact test specimens were printed using ABS and carbon fibre reinforced ABS filaments in accordance with ASTM standards to investigate the mechanical properties. The results showed that the addition of carbon fiber in ABS increases the mechanical properties. The failure mechanisms are studied using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, dynamic properties are studied over the temperature range from 30ºC to 200ºC at different frequencies (0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, and 5Hz) using dynamic mechanical analyzer to investigate the viscoelastic properties (storage modulus, loss modulus, loss factor and glass transition temperature). The results showed that the addition of carbon fiber in the ABS polymer increases the static and dynamic mechanical properties. Moreover, athigher frequencies, the molecular movement in the polymer decreases which in turn stabilizes the composite behavior and reduces the loss factor.