Experimental analysis of fibre characteristics and their expected effects on a novel laser sintering process for additively manufactured continuous carbon fibre reinforced polymer parts

Additive manufacturing of continuous carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CCFRP) parts enables the economical production of complex parts for aerospace, engineering and other industries. With continuous fibres, the mechanical properties of the parts can be significantly increased in accordance with the load path. The matrix requirements for such applications however, cannot be optimally met by current additive manufacturing processes for CCFRP. A process meeting the matrix requirements is laser-sintering, which has proven to be a promising alternative in an industrial environment, allowing the production of robust parts without support structures in a time-efficient and economical manner for one-off and low-volume production. The advantages of CCFRP and laser-sintering have been combined in a novel laser-sintering machine with automated continuous fibre integration. This paper describes the experimental procedure for analysing the fibre properties and fibre-matrix-adherence of fibres to be tested for application in the novel Laser-sintering process. Considering the investigated fibre properties, the ones suitable for further testing of integration and possible challenges could be identified.