Mean-field approximations in effective thermo-viscoelastic behavior for composite parts obtained via fused deposition modeling technology

. Aiming to estimate the effective behavior of the parts obtained by fused deposition modeling (FDM) in the case of short fiber composite materials, the Mean-field homogenization procedure, introduced in linear elasticity, is here extended to linear thermo-viscoelasticity. The variation of the parameters describing the state of the fibers inside the printing filament is represented by introducing appropriate distribution functions obtained through the statistical analysis of the microstructure. The validation of the procedure is achieved by comparing its predictions with calculations based on full-field Fast-Fourier-Transform homogenization and experiments results from samples treated in autoclave to remove layer-scale porosities from the printed filament.