Neue Gestaltungsfreiheiten durch 3D-gedruckte Faser-Kunststoff-Verbunde

Abstract

At the Institute for Engineering Design, Additive Manufacturing (AM) is used to support product development with presentation, concept or functional models. But, in particular, the widely used rapid technologies that employ inexpensive plastics often prevent the use of 3D-printed parts as a functional model because of their relatively poor material properties. A well-established way to improve the material properties of plastics is the embedding of reinforcing fibres. Fibre reinforced plastics (FRP) reach their superiority over other materials through the adjustability of the material properties according to the future operating conditions of the product. However, during the design of components made of FRP, compromises must be made usually because of their layered structure and flat semi-finished goods. In addition, the production of components made of FRP is difficult to automate. Using established manufacturing processes, the production of FRP components is energy intensive and creates material waste and hazardous waste. Many of these limitations can be addressed through the application of additive manufacturing processes on FRP. The method proposed in this paper shows a possibility for upgrading the fused deposition process by embedding continuous fibres. By adjusting the machine control, the reinforcing fibres are oriented during the printing process. This allows an unprecedented level of freedom in the design with FRP. These new freedoms of design have to be exploited by an adapted design methodology.