Experimental investigation of the effect of infill parameters on dynamic compressive performance of 3D-Printed carbon fiber reinforced polyethylene terephthalate glycol composites

Abstract

The current investigation evaluates the compressive response of 3D-printed carbon fiber-reinforced PETG thermoplastics to optimize different infill parameters when loaded at high impact pressures (strain rates). The selected parameters for the 3D printing of different samples are the filling pattern (rectilinear and honeycomb) and the filling density (25%, 50%, and 75%). Compression-split Hopkinson pressure bars (SHPBs) combined with a high-speed camera were used to monitor the evolution of the mechanical behavior and damage kinetics of 3D-printed samples in real-time with the variation in strain rate. The results revealed a significant improvement in compressive strength and compressive modulus when the filling density was increased from 20% to 75% for both patterns. However, the combination of a honeycomb pattern with 75% filling presented the best compressive strength, stiffness and damage resistance, irrespective of impact pressure. In particular, the highest compressive strengths, ranging from 35.5 to 56.16 MPa for impact pressures of 1.4 to 2.4 bar, respectively, were obtained with this configuration (75% honeycomb pattern). This represents a substantial difference of 25 to 38% compared with the 75% rectilinear pattern, which showed values below 35 MPa. Another significant result was observed for the compressive modulus, which reached 2787.8 MPa for the honeycomb-filled samples, whereas this value remained below 2000 MPa for the rectilinear pattern.