Fabrication and Characterization of Hemp Fibre Based 3D Printed Honeycomb Sandwich Structure by FDM Process

Natural fibre composites have been trending in the industries recently due to their better recyclability, renewability, biodegradability. Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) is one of the widely used additive manufacturing process for the fabrication of simple and complex structures. In this study, hemp/PLA 3D printed honeycomb sandwich structures were fabricated by FDM process and mechanical behaviour was characterized. Initially, the tensile behaviour of hemp fibre/PLA filaments and the 3D printed composite specimens with an infill angle of 0 degrees/90 degrees, -45 degrees/ + 45 degrees were investigated. Honeycomb cores were fabricated and their mechanical behaviour in flatwise, edgewise directions were analysed. Later, honeycomb sandwich structures were fabricated using core and skin parts. Compression and 4-Point bending tests were performed to characterize the mechanical behaviour. Analytical analysis was also performed to predict the mechanical properties of the honeycomb sandwich structure knowing the properties of the cell wall material. Some small-scaled automotive and aerospace prototypes were fabricated to assure the application of this methodology.