Open-hole tensile properties of 3D-printed continuous carbon-fiber-reinforced thermoplastic laminates: Experimental study and multiscale analysis

The mechanical properties of open-hole tensile (OHT) specimens made of 3D-printed continuous carbon-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics (CFRTPs) were investigated. The stacking sequence of the OHT specimens were [0/90](2s), and the as-printed specimens possessed higher porosity (15.19%) than conventional fiber reinforced composites. The OHT tests demonstrated that the tensile modulus and fracture strength of the as-printed specimens exhibited 36.7 +/- 0.3 GPa and 226.0 +/- 9.0 MPa, respectively. To evaluate the effects of voids on the OHT properties, the 3D-printed CFRTPs were hot-pressed, where fiber orientation and porosity (3.41 +/- 0.10%) were improved. Additionally, the tensile modulus was increased to 45.1 +/- 0.8 GPa, which is 23% higher than the as-printed specimens, even though the fracture strength were comparable or lower than that of as-printed specimens. To validate such OHT properties, a numerical multiscale model was introduced, with a microscale periodic unit cell (PUC) analysis for determining the effective tensile moduli and mesoscale extended finite element method (XFEM) analysis for OHT properties. In the PUC analysis, we considered a two-scale numerical model including a fiber-resin scale with fiber orientation for effective tensile moduli of a CFRTP filament, and filament-void scale for those of a CFRTP laminate. The porosity and fiber orientation were measured by X-ray computed tomography and digital microscopy observations, and the porosity for the 0 degrees specimen were 14.86%. By substituting the effective tensile moduli of the filament-void scale and those of the fiber-resin scale into the XFEM, respectively, the stress-strain responses of the computational OHT models were found to be in good agreement with those of the experimental results of as-printed and hot-pressed CFRTP, respectively. Both the OHT models showed that the Weibull criterion was satisfied without significant delamination at the failure strain, corresponding to the brittle failure mode due to fiber breakage, which agreed reasonably well with the experimental observations.

Automated summary

The mechanical properties of open-hole tensile specimens made of 3D-printed continuous carbon-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics were investigated, and the effects of voids on the properties were evaluated. The tensile modulus was increased through hot-pressing, while the fracture strength remained comparable or lower.