Abstract
The present study experimentally investigated the compressive strength of 3D-printed continuous carbon fiber composites. Two types of specimens were fabricated: type A was printed with the specimen thickness direction as the layup direction, and type B was printed with the specimen width direction as the layup direction. In previous research, these specimens were printed without surface layers (such as walls, floors, and roofs) using short carbon-fiber composite filaments, resulting in approximately 20% lower compressive strength compared with the Markforged datasheet. In this study, the specimens were printed with surface layers. The compressive strength showed results almost identical to those in the Markforged datasheet. To investigate the effect of the surface layers, the fiber waviness of the specimens was examined using X-ray computed tomography. The results indicated that the surface layers exhibited lesser waviness, leading to higher compressive strength.
https://ror.org/0112mx960 
