Analysis of thermal behavior in 3D printing of continuous fiber reinforced polymer composites

Abstract. Fused filament fabrication (FFF) as an additive manufacturing process, is a thermal driven method used to produce continuous fiber reinforced composites for engineering applications. Interlayer delamination is a significant concern for composites manufactured by FFF process. To address the problem of interlayer delamination and enhance the macro-mechanical properties of FFF fiber composites, it is necessary to study the thermal behavior of continuous fiber filled composites during the deposition process. A thermal simulation model with the consideration of continuous fiber was proposed. The numerical simulations reproduce the trends of experimental temperature evolution. When the continuous fiber phase is omitted from the heat transfer model, the predicted reheating temperature at the interface is lower compared to the temperature measured via IR monitoring. This result highlights the critical necessity of developing a numerical model that takes the continuous fiber phase into account in order to accurately predict the reheating temperature at the interface. Such a model is essential for deeper exploration into the adhesion mechanisms between adjacent layers and adjacent filaments.