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Engineered Interleaved Random Glass Fiber Composites Using Additive Manufacturing: Effect of Mat Properties, Resin Chemistry, and Resin-Rich Layer Thickness
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Engineered Interleaved Random Glass Fiber Composites Using Additive Manufacturing: Effect of Mat Properties, Resin Chemistry, and Resin-Rich Layer Thickness

Ahmed Ibrahim, Mohanad Idrees, Emine Tekerek, Antonios Kontsos, Giuseppe Palmese and Nicolas Alvarez
Polymers, v 15(15), p3189
01 Jan 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15153189
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15153189View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Additive manufacturing Bisphenol A Braiding Delamination Fiber composites Fiber reinforced polymers Fracture toughness Glass fiber reinforced plastics Load Mechanical properties Photopolymerization Production costs Resin transfer molding Resins Thickness
Standard lay-up fabrication of fiber-reinforced composites (FRCs) suffer from poor out-of-plane properties and delamination resistance. While advanced manufacturing techniques (e.g., interleaving, braiding, and z-pinning) increase delamination resistance in FRCs, they typically result in significant fabrication complexity and limitations, increased manufacturing costs, and/or overall stiffness reduction. In this work, we demonstrate the use of facile digital light processing (DLP) technique to additively manufacture (AM) random glass FRCs with engineered interleaves. This work demonstrates how vat photo-polymerization techniques can be used to build composites layer-by-layer with controlled interleaf material, thickness, and placement. Note that this engineering control is almost impossible to achieve with traditional manufacturing techniques. A range of specimens were printed to measure the effect of interleaf thickness and material on tensile/flexural properties as well as fracture toughness. One important observation was the ≈60% increase in interlaminar fracture toughness achieved by using a tough resin material in the interleaf. The comparison between AM and traditionally manufactured specimens via vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) highlighted the limitation of AM techniques in achieving high mat consolidation. In other words, the volume fraction of AM parts is limited by the wet fiber mat process, and engineering solutions are discussed. Overall, this technique offers engineering control of FRC design and fabrication that is not available with traditional methods.

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Web of Science research areas
Polymer Science
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