Development of a Self-Heating Consolidation Procedure for 3D-Printed Continuous Wire Polymer Composite Laminates

Abstract

The voids in 3D-printed continuous wire polymer composites (CWPCs) reduce the wire-polymer adhesion, which can decrease their strength and stiffness and their in-part sensing accuracy. This thesis shows the development, implementation and effects of a consolidation procedure to reduce the voids in unidirectional and cross-ply 3D-printed CWPC laminates. The consolidation procedure used resistive heating combined with hot-pressing to reduce the internal voids. Image processing of sample cross sections proved the void content in consolidated samples were 91.6% lower compared to unprocessed, while flexural tests found 5% and 12% higher flexural strength and stiffness respectively. Next, the effects of the consolidation procedure were tested on the uniaxial tensile properties of unidirectional and cross-ply 3D-printed CWPC samples, showing promising results for transverse reinforced CWPC samples. The results of the two studies performed showed that the consolidation procedure significantly reduces the void content of the samples, and thus positively impacts the mechanical properties.