Resin impregnation in continuous fiber reinforced plastics during 3D printing

Abstract

Currently 3D printing technology has attracted much attention as new molding methods for carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTP). The purpose of this study is to investigate in situ resin impregnation during 3D printing of continuous carbon fiber reinforced plastics. The specimen was manufactured by fused deposition molding (FDM) using carbon fiber yarn including 1000 mono-filaments and polylactic acid (PLA) filament. Resin impregnation ratio measurement and tensile tests were conducted on the molded specimens in order to investigate the effect of process parameters during 3D printing on mechanical properties. As a result, good resin impregnation and mechanical properties were obtained for specimen with molding temperature more than 200 °C.