Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Sep 27;12(10):2220.
doi: 10.3390/polym12102220.

Novel Method for the Manufacture of Complex CFRP Parts Using FDM-based Molds

Paul Bere  1 , Calin Neamtu  2 , Razvan Udroiu  3
Affiliations

Novel Method for the Manufacture of Complex CFRP Parts Using FDM-based Molds

Paul Bere et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP) have attracted much interest within many industrial fields where the use of 3D printed molds can provide significant cost and time savings in the production of composite tooling. Within this paper, a novel method for the manufacture of complex-shaped FRP parts has been proposed. This paper features a new design of bike saddle, which was manufactured through the use of molds created by fused deposition modeling (FDM), of which two 3D printable materials were selected, polylactic acid (PLA) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and these molds were then chemically and thermally treated. The novel bike saddles were fabricated using carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP), by vacuum bag technology and oven curing, utilizing additive manufactured (AM) molds. Following manufacture the molded parts were subjected to a quality inspection, using non-contact three-dimensional (3D) scanning techniques, where the results were then statistically analyzed. The statistically analyzed results state that the main deviations between the CAD model and the manufactured CFRP parts were within the range of ±1 mm. Additionally, the weight of the upper part of the saddles was found to be 42 grams. The novel method is primarily intended to be used for customized products using CFRPs.

Keywords: 3D scanning; CFRP; PLA mold; additive manufacturing; bike saddle; fused deposition modeling; vacuum bag technology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Methods of mold manufacturing for composite materials.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Novel method for manufacturing complex carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) parts.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Determination of the design curves based on the human bones position on the bike saddle: (a) front view; (b) side view.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The CAD model of the novel saddle: (a) isometric view; (b) side view; (c) front view.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The 3D model of the assembled saddle: (a) upper side; (b) lower side.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The 3D model of the mold saddle.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Mold manufacturing simulation by CNC milling.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The 3D printing simulation of the molds: (a) mold ‘A’ made of PLA on Leapfrog Creatr XL; (b) mold ‘B’ made of ABS on STRATASYS Fortus 380 mc.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Heat treatment of the molds in the oven.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Application of CFRP prepreg layers on the PLA mold: (a) applying of a piece of CFRP prepreg; (b) cutting the edges of the CFRPs prepreg according to the PLA mold shape; (c) mold and composite material in the bag under vacuum pressure.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Positioning of the bike saddle on the rotary table of the scanning system
Figure 12
Figure 12
PLA mold (top) and ABS mold (down): (a) active surface of the molds (cavity); (b) back side of the molds.
Figure 13
Figure 13
The molds after gel coat application and heat treatment: (a) PLA mold; (b) ABS mold.
Figure 14
Figure 14
The CFRP and carbon-Kevlar fiber-reinforced polymer (CKFRP) bike saddle specimens.
Figure 15
Figure 15
The CFRP saddle prototype assembled on a road bike: (a) view about the bicycle; (b) detail of the saddle.
Figure 16
Figure 16
The comparison regarding the dimensional deviations from the CAD model and the FDM-based molds: (a) ABS mold; (b) PLA mold.
Figure 17
Figure 17
Dimensional deviation between the CAD model and the gel-coated PLA mold.
Figure 18
Figure 18
Dimensional deviation between a CFRP bike saddle specimen (A2) and the final PLA mold.
Figure 19
Figure 19
Comparison between the CAD model and specimen A3 obtained through CFRP.
Figure 20
Figure 20
Interval plot of Dev[−1,1] CAD-CFRP and Dev[−1,1] PLA-CFRP; bars are one standard error from the mean.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Henderson L. Carbon Fibers and Their Composite Materials. MDPI AG; Basel, Switzerland: 2019. ISBN-13: 978-3039211029, ISBN-10: 3039211021.
    1. Barbero E.J. Introduction to Composite Materials Design. 3rd ed. CRC Press; Boca Raton, FL, USA: 2018.
    1. Tofail S.A.M., Koumoulos E.P., Bandyopadhyay A., Bose S., O’Donoghue L., Charitidis C. Additive manufacturing: Scientific and technological challenges, market uptake and opportunities. Mater. Today. 2018;21:22–37. doi: 10.1016/j.mattod.2017.07.001. - DOI
    1. International Organization for Standardization . Standard Terminology for Additive Manufacturing–General Principles–Terminology. ISO/ASME International; Geneva, Switzerland: 2015. (ISO/ASTM 52900-15).
    1. Turner B.N., Strong R., Gold S.A. A review of melt extrusion additive manufacturing processes: I. Process design and modeling. Rapid Prototyp. J. 2014;20:192–204. doi: 10.1108/RPJ-01-2013-0012. - DOI

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources