Enhancement of Lightweight Composite Parts with Robust Cellular Structures by Combining Fused Deposition Modeling and Electromagnetic Induction Heating

A novel approach combining fused deposition modeling and electromagnetic induction heating is developed to fabricate lightweight cellular composite parts, where the composite filaments are prepared by adding the Babbitt alloy powders (LSn‐03) and the foaming agents (PTSS) into ABS matrix. The electromagnetic induction furnace is employed to heat the fabricated parts to form porous structures with rougher surfaces and improve the interfacial behaviors by making the interfaces getting blurred. Three types of pores are observed, including physical gaps, defects, and spherical holes. It is found that the heating time plays an important role in pore sizes and has little influence on porosity. The effects of content of LSn‐03 and PTSS on pore sizes and porosity are also investigated to gain insight into the cellular structures. The testing results show that the heating treatment exerts a positive influence on the mechanical properties at a relatively high filling density. Polycarbonates are adopted as shells to further improve the mechanical properties of the fabricated parts, revealing that the tensile and compressive strength increase by 20% and 25%, respectively. The instance of the honeycomb parts further demonstrates the advantages of the approach to fabricate the lightweight cellular composite parts with excellent performance.