A DMA-Based Approach to Quality Evaluation of Digitally Manufactured Continuous Fiber-Reinforced Composites from Thermoplastic Commingled Tow

Direct digital manufacturing of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastics exhibits the potential to relieve many of the constraints placed on the current design and manufacture of composite structures. At present, the additive manufacturing of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastics is demonstrated to varying extents; however, a comprehensive investigation of manufacturing defects and the quality of additively manufactured high fiber volume fraction continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites is limited. Considering the preliminary nature of the additive manufacturing of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastics, composites processed in this manner are typically subject to various manufacturing defects, including excessive void content in the thermoplastic matrix. Generally, quality evaluation of processed composites in the literature is limited to test methods that are largely influenced by the properties of the continuous fiber reinforcement, and as such, defects in the thermoplastic matrix are usually less impactful on the results and are often overlooked. Hardware to facilitate the direct digital manufacturing of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic matrix composites was developed, and specimens were successfully processed with intentionally varied void content. The quality of the additively manufactured specimens was then evaluated in terms of the measured maximum storage modulus, maximum loss modulus, damping factor and the glass transition temperature by means of dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). DMA allows for thermomechanical (i.e., highly matrix sensitive) evaluation of the composite specimens, specifically in terms of the measured elastic storage modulus, viscous loss modulus, damping factor and the glass transition temperature. Within the tested range of void contents from roughly 4–10%, evaluation by DMA resulted in a distinct reduction in the maximum measured storage modulus, maximum loss modulus and glass transition temperature with increasing void content, while the damping factor increased. Thus, the results of this work, which focused on the effect of void content on DMA measured properties, have demonstrated that DMA exhibits multi-faceted sensitivity to the presence of voids in the additively manufactured continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic specimens.