Impact Toughness of Hybrid Carbon Fiber-PLA/ABS Laminar Composite Produced through Fused Filament Fabrication

Nowadays, the components of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites (an important material) are directly produced with 3D printing technology, especially Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). However, such components suffer from poor toughness. The main aim of this research is to overcome this drawback by introducing an idea of laying down a high toughness material on the 3D-printed carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composite sheet, thereby making a hybrid composite of laminar structure. To ascertain this idea, in the present study, a carbon-reinforced Polylactic Acid (C-PLA) composite sheet was initially 3D printed through FFF technology, which was then laid upon with the Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), named as C-PLA/ABS hybrid laminar composite, in an attempt to increase its impact toughness. The hybrid composite was fabricated by varying different 3D printing parameters and was then subjected to impact testing. The results revealed that toughness increased by employing higher layer thickness and clad ratio, while it decreased by increasing the fill density, but remained unaffected due to any change in the raster angle. The highest impact toughness (23,465.6 kJ/m2) was achieved when fabrication was performed employing layer thickness of 0.5 mm, clad ratio of 1, fill density of 40%. As a result of laying up ABS sheet on C-PLA sheet, the toughness of resulting structure increased greatly (280 to 365%) as compared to the equivalent C-PLA structure, as expected. Two different types of distinct failures were observed during impact testing. In type A, both laminates fractured simultaneously without any delamination as a hammer hit the sample. In type B, the failure initiated with fracturing of C-PLA sheet followed by interfacial delamination at the boundary walls. The SEM analysis of fractured surfaces revealed two types of pores in the C-PLA lamina, while only one type in the ABS lamina. Further, there was no interlayer cracking in the C-PLA lamina contrary to the ABS lamina, thereby indicating greater interlayer adhesion in the C-PLA lamina.

On the Effects of Process Parameters and Optimization of Interlaminate Bond Strength in 3D Printed ABS/CF-PLA Composite

The scope of additive manufacturing, particularly fused deposition modelling (FDM), can indeed be explored with the fabrication of multi-material composite laminates using this technology. Laminar composite structures made up of two distinct materials, namely acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and carbon fiber reinforced polylactic acid (CF-PLA), were produced using the FDM process. The current study analyzes the effect of various printing parameters on the interfacial bond strength (IFBS) of the ABS/CF-PLA laminar composite by employing response surface methodology. The physical examination of the tested specimens revealed two failure modes, where failure mode 1 possessed high IFBS owing to the phenomenon of material patch transfer. Contrarily, failure mode 2 yielded low IFBS, while no patch transfer was observed. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that printing parameters were highly interactive in nature. After extensive experimentation, it was revealed that good quality of IFBS is attributed to the medium range of printing speed, high infill density, and low layer height. At the same time, a maximum IFBS of 20.5 MPa was achieved. The study presented an empirical relation between printing parameters and IFBS that can help in forecasting IFBS at any given printing parameters. Finally, the optimized printing conditions were also determined with the aim to maximize IFBS.

Preparation and Study of Flexural Strength and Impact Strength for Hybrid Composite Materials used in Structural Applications

Many of the polymeric materials used for structural purposes have weak mechanical properties, these characteristics can therefore be improved by preparing a hybrid laminar composite. In this work use melting mixing method using screw extruder to prepare sheets of polymer blends and nanocomposites based on polymer blends, and using a hot hydraulic press machine to prepared hybrid laminates composites. Two groups of hybrid laminar composites were prepared, the first group is consist of [((94%PP: 5%PMMA: 1 %( PP-g-MA)): 0.3% ZrO2): 6%KF and 8%KF] and the second group is [((94%PP: 5%UHMWPE: 1 %( PP-g-MA)): 0.3% ZrO2): 6%KF and 8%KF]. The results illustrated the impact strength and fracture toughness are increase with increased weight percentage of Kevlar fiber in for both groups of laminar composites and the highest values for two groups are (58.1, 54.95 KJ/M2) and (8.4, 9.16 MPa√m) respectively, any that, at the rate of increment reached to (120.4%, 107%) and (52.7%, 66.5%) respectively, compared with the neat PP. Moreover, the flexural strength values of the first group samples of hybrid laminar composite remained constant, when added kevlar fiber to nanocomposite. While, the flexural strength values of the second group samples of hybrid laminar composite increase with increase the ratio of kevlar fiber in composite to reach the maximum values (92 MPa) at 8% wt. of kevlar fiber, any, at the rate of increment reached to 39.4% compared with the neat PP. As well as, the results shown that the flexural properties and fracture toughness of the second group samples higher than they are for the first group samples.

Thin laminar composite solid electrolyte with high ionic conductivity and mechanical strength towards advanced all-solid-state lithium–sulfur battery

Thin laminar composite solid electrolyte with high mechanical strength and ionic conductivity imparts the Li–S battery an excellent electrochemical performance.