Effects of non-planar slicing techniques and carbon fibre material additives on the mechanical properties of 3D-printed drone propellers

Abstract

Propeller parameters and geometry can dramatically influence the performance of a drone and its ability to complete a mission. Though many off-the-shelf propeller choices exist, operators in the field may not be able to stock suitable options for any possible scenario and are often forced to fly with a suboptimal propeller. Modern desktop 3D printers are relatively portable, highly capable, and simple to operate, offering the chance to rapidly manufacture propellers tailored to specific missions. This research evaluates how two recent advances in fused filament fabrication 3D printing could affect the mechanical viability of printed propellers. Non-planar slicing is a model slicing technique that attempts to address roughness issues when printing the shallow three-dimensional curvature found on many propeller blades. For further improvement, polymer filaments with short-chopped carbon fibre additives were compared against their fibre-free counterparts. Test coupons were subjected to tests simulating the thrust and impact loads a propeller might experience during flight. Under thrust loading, the material with carbon fibre additives showed a significant performance advantage. During impact tests, both nonplanar slicing (65% average improvement) and carbon fibre material additives (20% average improvement) demonstrated performance gains over their more traditional counterparts.