On the fatigue properties of material extrusion 3D-printed biodegradable composites reinforced with continuous flax fibers

Nowadays, additive manufacturing is increasingly used for prototypes and low-volume products. Firstly, it offers great design freedom; however, the components must inevitably have certain design artifacts that cause stress concentrations. To this end, composites of biodegradable PLA (polylactic acid) matrix and continuous flax fibers were fabricated in this study using material extrusion 3D printing. Static characterization and mechanical fatigue tests between 103 and 2·106 load cycles were performed for plain specimens, three types of notches for the matrix, and two composite configurations. The notches only slightly affected the static performance of the tested materials. Accordingly, compared to the unnotched versions, the PLA matrix and composites exhibited a reduction in tensile strength of up to 8% and 19%, respectively. It was found that compared to the PLA matrix, the fatigue strength at high cycles increased by 1.8 and 2.3 times for the plain composite with a fiber volume fraction of 7.8% and 14% fibers, respectively. In the fatigue of notched composites, the notch effect is reduced by fibers in the tip. The fatigue strength is up to 1.9 and 2.9 times higher compared to the notched matrix for the composite with a smaller and larger volume fraction, respectively.