Progressive damage for 3D printed composites with variable fiber volume content and ply location

At present, 3D printed continuous carbon fiber reinforced composites (CCFRCs) are widely used in aviation and automotive fields. Most of the existing research on 3D printed CCFRCs focuses on fiber volume content and rarely explores the specific fiber ply location. However, the latter is one of the most important factors affecting the strength and stiffness properties of materials. In this paper, the constitutive model and progressive damage model of 3D printed CCFRCs are established, concentrating on the fundamental aspects of fiber volume content and fiber ply location. The mechanical properties of 3D printed CCFRCs with different fiber volume content and fiber ply location were studied by tensile tests. The mapping relationship between mechanical properties and fiber volume content and fiber ply location was obtained based on experimental data. In addition, the failure morphology and microstructure of the sample at the fracture section were analyzed, and the failure process under different fiber angles was studied to reveal the failure mechanism. The progressive damage model was used to predict and analyze the performance of 3D printed CCFRCs with different fiber volume content and fiber ply location. The results show that the feasibility and effectiveness of the present model are verified through the comparison between experiment and simulation.