| Summary: | Additive manufacturing technologies, also known as 3D printing, have successfully provided
promising and cost-effective techniques for the fabrication of polymeric matrix composite
materials. Fused deposition modeling (FDM), one of the most widely used methods to fabricate
polymeric materials, has received great attention due to its low cost, minimal material waste, and
the toolless realization of complex part geometries. However, due to the intrinsically limited
mechanical performance of FDM-produced parts, it is crucial to develop parts with improved
properties. One of the potential approaches to achieve that is by incorporating a reinforcing phase
into the polymeric materials, such as carbon fibres, to essentially form carbon fibre-reinforced
polymers, which are already feasting on a plethora of applications including aerospace,
automotive, and aviation.
The objective of this work is to delve deeper into the intricacies between the process parameters
employed to fabricate 3D printed, carbon fibre-reinforced polymers and their mechanical response.
The materials studied in this thesis are poly(lactic acid) and grades of both virgin and recycled,
short carbon fibres, under 1 mm. The main fabrication techniques employed are filament extrusion
and FDM-based 3D printing. In this study, the carbon fibres as well as their relationship with the
final composite materials’ performance are studied with a range of characterization techniques
including Raman spectroscopy, optical and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron
microscopy, and flexural tests.
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