Exploiting cyclic softening in continuous lattice fabrication for the additive manufacturing of high performance fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composite materials

Abstract Continuous lattice fabrication (CLF) was recently introduced as a new additive manufacturing (AM) technology capable of printing continuous fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites along desired trajectories in three-dimensional space. In a systematic attempt to maximize the mechanical properties of the printed extrudate by minimizing the residual void content, this study investigates the thermal deconsolidation behaviour observed in pultruded unidirectional fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composite material when it is reheated above its melting point and exposed to ambient pressure. Fibre decompaction, generally accepted to be the primary cause for deconsolidation in fibre-reinforced thermoplastics, was investigated to assess the influence of cyclic softening of the fibrous media on the residual void content of the extruded material. The magnitude and rate of fibre decompaction were observed to decrease with the number of consolidation-deconsolidation cycles to which the material was subjected. A model was developed to predict the degree of deconsolidation in the CLF process as a function of temperature, processing speed, and processing history. Based on the deconsolidation behaviour observed, a multi-stage pultrusion module was designed that exploits cyclic softening and was demonstrated to reduce the residual void content of the printed extrudate by over 80%.