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. 2016 Jul 16;9(7):583.
doi: 10.3390/ma9070583.

UV-Assisted 3D Printing of Glass and Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Dual-Cure Polymer Composites

Marta Invernizzi  1 , Gabriele Natale  2 , Marinella Levi  3 , Stefano Turri  4 , Gianmarco Griffini  5
Affiliations

UV-Assisted 3D Printing of Glass and Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Dual-Cure Polymer Composites

Marta Invernizzi et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

Glass (GFR) and carbon fiber-reinforced (CFR) dual-cure polymer composites fabricated by UV-assisted three-dimensional (UV-3D) printing are presented. The resin material combines an acrylic-based photocurable resin with a low temperature (140 °C) thermally-curable resin system based on bisphenol A diglycidyl ether as base component, an aliphatic anhydride (hexahydro-4-methylphthalic anhydride) as hardener and (2,4,6,-tris(dimethylaminomethyl)phenol) as catalyst. A thorough rheological characterization of these formulations allowed us to define their 3D printability window. UV-3D printed macrostructures were successfully demonstrated, giving a clear indication of their potential use in real-life structural applications. Differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis highlighted the good thermal stability and mechanical properties of the printed parts. In addition, uniaxial tensile tests were used to assess the fiber reinforcing effect on the UV-3D printed objects. Finally, an initial study was conducted on the use of a sizing treatment on carbon fibers to improve the fiber/matrix interfacial adhesion, giving preliminary indications on the potential of this approach to improve the mechanical properties of the 3D printed CFR components.

Keywords: 3D printing; UV curing; carbon fiber; composites; dual cure; glass fiber; interpenetrating polymer networks.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Viscosity curves of B33 formulations (dual-cure blend containing 33 wt. % of photocurable acrylic component) at increasing SiO2 content.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Viscosity curves of SiO2-containing B33, B50 and carbon fiber-reinforced (CFR) (B50C5) composite formulations. For comparison, CFR and glass fiber-reinforced (GFR) composite formulations without the addition of SiO2 are also presented (B50C5-noSiO2 and B33G5-noSiO2, respectively).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Representative stress–strain curves of UV-3D printed blend (B50) and composites incorporating untreated (B50C5) and sized (B50C5-S) carbon fibers.
Figure 4
Figure 4
SEM micrographs (2500× magnification) of (a) virgin untreated; and (b) sized carbon fibers; fracture surface of tensile CFR polymer composites incorporating (c) virgin untreated; and (d) sized carbon fibers.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Axonometric projection of the airfoil (a) and the propeller (b) 3D models used to demonstrate the printability of the GFR and CFR composite formulations developed in this work. UV-3D printed reproduction of the airfoil (c–f) and the propeller (g–j) 3D models based on the GFR (c,d,g,h) and CFR (e,f,i,j) polymer composite formulations developed in this work.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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