Consolidation of Additive Manufactured Continuous Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polyamide 12 Composites and the Development of Process-Related Numerical Simulation Methods

Abstract

Additive manufacturing of high-performance polymers—such as PA12, PPS, PEEK, and PEKK—combined with industrial-grade carbon fibers with a high fiber volume ratio of up to 60% allows a weight reduction of over 40% compared to classic metal construction. Typically, these 3D-printed composites have a porosity of 10–30% depending on the material and the printing process parameters, which significantly reduces the quality of the part. Therefore, the additive manufacturing of load-bearing structural applications requires a proper consolidation after the printing process—the so-called ‘additive fusion technology’—allowing close to zero void content in the consolidated part. By means of the upfront digital modeling of the consolidation process, a highly optimized composite component can be produced while decreasing the number of expensive prototyping iterations. In this study, advanced numerical methods are presented to describe the consolidation process of additive manufactured continuous carbon fiber reinforced composite parts based on the polyamide 12 (PA12) matrix. The simulation of the additive fusion step/consolidation provides immediate accuracy in determining the final degree of crystallization, process-induced deformation and residual stresses, final engineering constants, as well as porosity. The developed simulation workflow is demonstrated and validated with experimental data from consolidation tests on the final porosity, thickness, and fiber–volume ratio.