Additive Manufacturing for Composite Part Production

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction
Additive manufacturing (AM) encompasses methods of fabrication that build objects
through the successive addition of material, as opposed to subtractive methods such as CNC
machining, that remove material until a final shape is achieved. Composite fabrication is one
of the most original forms of additive manufacturing. Whether the process involves wet lay-
up, hand lay-up of prepreg materials, methods of composite manufacture are distinctly
additive in nature; building up to final part forms typically one layer at a time. However, the
nature of additive manufacturing has been revolutionized with the advent of the 3D printing
industry.

For the past several decades, 3D printing technologies have advanced rapidly and
recently reached a state of mainstream adoption, particularly for rapid prototyping. Such
technologies are only beginning to penetrate and influence the advanced composites industry,
although the AM industry is clearly approaching a tipping point where the impact on the
composites industry is expected to become as broad and significant as that in prototyping.

Composite materials have been used for lightweight components in many industries
such as: aerospace, automotive, nuclear, marine, and biomedical industries. They offer high
mechanical strength and high performance for specific applications. The efficient fabrication
of these composite materials is a significant challenge. Additive Manufacturing offers an
excellent opportunity to fabricate innovative and complex parts using composite materials.
The aim of this seminar is show the use of composite material in additive manufacturing in
terms of production and application.

1.2 Composite Materials

The term composite materials, or composites for short, include a great range of
different materials. A general definition that describes composites “a solid material which is
composed of two or more substances having different physical characteristics and in which
each substance retains its identity while contributing desirable properties to the whole”,
usually highlight two distinct characteristics for composite materials. Firstly, composite
materials are made up of two or more materials that have been combined so that the
constituent materials contribute with their unique characteristics to form a new material with
the desired properties. Secondly, definitions often highlight the fact that the constituent
materials, combined to form a composite, retain their physical and chemical properties. These
types of broad definitions include an ample array of material combinations, ranging from
paper roll to steel-reinforced concrete.

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The two major constituents in a composite material are called reinforcement and
matrix. The main function of the reinforcement is to provide strength and stiffness to the
material and to carry external loads. The reinforcement is surrounded by the matrix, which
transfers and distributes external load to the fibres and protects the fibres against the
surrounding environment. Figure shows some examples of materials that can be used as
reinforcement and matrix.

Figure 1:- Structure of a composite material.

In addition to choosing from a multitude of materials to combine into a composite

material, there are also different forms and shapes of reinforcement to choose from, and the
manufacturing process itself has a clear influence on the material properties of the final
product. All the options present an opportunity to design a composite material with
characteristics adapted to specific applications. Some combinations, for example long carbon
fibres in a unidirectional arrangement embedded in an epoxy matrix, yield materials with
high strength and stiffness in combination with low density. In aerospace and automotive
applications, these combinations provide a possibility for lightweight designs that can
accomplish fuel savings and thereby reduced environmental impact.

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2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
2.1 Additive manufacturing
Additive manufacturing (AM) is an additive process. That is to say that compared
to for example a lathe or milling operation material is added instead of removed. A 3-
dimensional CAD model created on a computer is saved in a format and imported to
CAM software. The CAM software slices the object into layers according to the
corresponding machines layer deposition height and selects a tool-path for each layer.
The CAM software generates machine code that is specific to the intended additive
manufacturing machine. The print is then created by solidifying materials in the cross-
section layer by layer.

There are different methods for additive manufacturing. Some of the methods for
additive manufacturing are SLS, 3DP, LOM, SL, FDM and UC. The methods vary in
deposition method and adhesion processes. Some use a powder or liquid bed that is cured
by exposure to light, depositions of material or another external energy contribution.
Others feed material through a nozzle to deposit it upon the build platform to construct a
part. What they all have in common is that they may use numerical control converting a
three dimensional CAD model to build up cross-sections layer by layer. Thusly build
three dimensional object using additive methods.

2.2 Composites in Additive manufacturing

Previous attempts to introduce composites to various rapid manufacturing
methods have been conducted. The composition of the materials depends to a large extent
on the method used. Restrictions in fibre material may be due to spreading of the material
(size) adhesion method or matrix material. Restrictions on the matrix material are
generally set to materials previously used in the technology. Other factors limiting
material selection are purpose of investigation, function of the final part, additives and
combinatorial factors of the materials.

With powder-based methods such as SLS a restriction is the fibre size. This is due
mainly to the application of a new layer. When the new layer is applied it is smoothed out
so as to lay flat above the surface below. Large particles may disturb this process. Apart
from that SLS can combine a large selection of materials such as different metal alloys.
It is also important to note that in nearly all modern manufacturing processes
using polymers multiple additives are added to improve manufacturing and end material
properties. Theses may be stabilisers, anti-oxidants, additives to increase surface quality,
viscosity, flame resistance and many other properties. It is also common practice to blend
multiple polymers to achieve improved material properties for specific applications. This
is a large field of research but will not be investigated in-depth in this report as the focus
is on composites.

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3. CONVENTIONAL METHODS FOR COMPOSITE PART

MANUFACTURING

3.1 Open mold process:-

This process uses a single positive or negative mold surface. The starting
materials are applied to the mold in layers, building up to the desired thickness. Next
follows curing and after that part is removed from the mold. Different open-mold
processes were developed depending on the way the raw material is applied to the
mold. The oldest one is a hand Lay-up Process The entire lay-up process is both time-
consuming and labour-intensive. Other open mold processes include automated tape-
laying machines, spray-up process, etc.

Figure 2:- Open mold process

3.2 Closed mold processes:-

In these processes, molds consist of two sections that open and close during
each molding cycle. In compression molding processes, starting materials are placed
in the lower mold section, and the mold is closed under pressure. Next, the mold is
heated to cure the polymer matrix. After curing, the mold is opened and the part is
removed. Different compression molding processes were developed for different
starting materials.

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In Resin Transfer Molding (RTM), the resin is injected into fibre preforms
enclosed in heated mold cavities. In advanced RTM instead of cloth or math
continuous fibre reinforcement is used. Material is sintered before with powdered
binder material and send to the pick-and-place machine where it is cut to shape and
stacked in position. The preforms are then combined with tooling, heated, and the
resin is injected. After cooling, parts are cleaned and trimmed. Injection molding
process can also be adapted to FRPs to produce low-cost parts in large quantities.

3.3 Filament winding:-

In this process, resin-impregnated fibres are wrapped around a rotating

mandrel that has the internal shape of the desired FRP part:

Figure 3:- Filament winding

Fibre can be impregnated just prior to winding pulling them through the liquid
resin (wet winding).In prepreg winding; the filament band is used instead of fibres. It
is possible also the filament to be impregnated after the winding by brushing or other
techniques (post impregnation).

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3.4 Pultrusion process:-

The process is similar to extrusion, but it involves pulling of the workpiece.

Pultrusion process is used to produce simple shapes of uniform cross section, such as
round, rectangular, tubular, and structural products. The bundles of fibres are drawn
through a bath of polymer resin and then gathered to produce a desired cross-sectional
product. The material is then drawn through one or more heated dies for further
shaping and curing. After cooling, material is cut to length.

Figure 4:- Schematic diagram of the Pultrusion process

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4. Additive Manufacturing for Composite Part Manufacturing

4.1 Selective Laser Sintering/Selective Laser Melting

Selective laser sintering (SLS) was developed in the 1980s, at the University
of Texas. The process directs a high power laser at a powder bed of material, using
the thermal energy of the laser beam to sinter selected areas. The pattern that the laser
traces defines the geometry of a slice of the part. Once the layer is complete, the part
is lowered and a fresh layer of powder is rolled on top of it, as shown in Figure. This
process is repeated layer by layer until the part is complete. A wide range of powder
materials have been demonstrated, with most work focusing on composites and
alloys. The basic requirement for a material‟s eligibility for SLS is that it readily
densities when sufficiently heated. Selective laser melting (SLM) is identical to SLS
except for the fact that the laser delivers enough energy to the spot to melt the
material there, not just sinter it [4].

Figure 5:-Selective Laser Sintering/Selective Laser Melting

SLS/SLM presents some benefits over other AM techniques, principally the

fact that it is a “one step process”, requiring no post processing steps. Again, this is a
very unusual attribute in additive manufacturing of composite. As it is a powder bed
process there are virtually no limitations on the type of features that can be printed.
However, in reality the benefits are far outweighed by some serious challenges which

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have yet to be overcome. As with all powder bed techniques, closed hollow cavities
are not possible (as the powder cannot be removed from these), and delicate structures
are difficult as they can easily be damaged when removing the powder bed. The laser
scan speed is usually reasonably fast (50 - 1500mm/s), so the time for which each spot
of the powder bed is heated is very short. Also, while the laser scan speed is fast, the
spot size is typically ~50 μm, so even small parts can take days to complete.
Furthermore, the whole system experiences extreme thermal gradients due to the local
heating from the laser beam. This is a serious issue for composite materials due to
their low thermal shock resistance, and subsequently the parts are often badly
damaged by thermal stress. Using this method along with careful control of powder
morphology resulted in near maximum theoretical density and acceptable mechanical
properties, showing flexural strengths of around 500 MPa.
A further problem is that the complexity of the system can lead to irregular
parts. This is because the temperature profiles a given area experiences cannot be
accurately known without extensive simulations, as the scan speed, road width, laser
power, the thermal conductivity and emissivity of the part and bed all contribute to
the speed at which thermal energy is accumulated under irradiation and is dissipated
after the beam moves on. This can have effects on the local microstructure of the
material and make structures and properties less reproducible when changing
geometries. In general the microstructural control is poor, and depending on the
powder bed material it is sometimes necessary to add another material to assist the
absorbance of the laser. This further influences the final microstructure.
Some work has been done to avoid the aforementioned issues by using SLS to
simply form a green body by adding a binder element to the powder bed and using
much lower laser powers. This helps mitigate the problems caused by large thermal
gradients and allows the part to be sintered in a separate step in a furnace, however
the green densities achieved by this method are also fairly poor and so densities after
sintering post-processing are typically <90%, leading to mechanical properties which
are generally insufficient for load bearing applications.

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4.2 Fused Deposition Modelling:-

Fused Deposition of composite (FDC) is a rapid prototyping technique which

is a modification of an older technique known as Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM).
FDM operates by depositing a filament of molten polymer in a pattern set from each
slice of a CAD model. The molten polymer is extruded from a long, flexible, solid
filament using a hot die and electric motors. The newly extruded material is
continuously cooled via conduction from the substrate, and occasionally via a built-in
fan. Solidification usually takes place very shortly after deposition, maintaining the
part‟s desired shape. FDM has become the most common AM technique for use in
commercial off-the-shelf instruments, largely due to its simple operation principle and
its low start up and operating costs [3].

Figure 6:- Fused Deposition Modelling

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FDC is simply FDM which uses a filament containing a moderate

concentration of composite particles (20 - 45 Vol %). Once the printing is complete,
the polymer is burnt out and sintering can proceed. With careful control of the
printing conditions and post processing steps, near full density has been achieved for
composite. [35] The main drawbacks of FDC are the need for support structures for
many spanning, overhanging and all floating features, the poor part resolution and the
large volume of polymer in the green part which can require extremely slow burn-out
schedules and limited densification.

Figure 7:- Inclusion of carbon fibre in molten plastic

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5. Comparison between Conventional and Additive Composite

Manufacturing:-

5.1 Weight
Figure 8 compares the weight of the aluminium reference panel with the demonstrator
panel manufactured [8]. The weight is subdivided in areal (sheet metal, sandwich)
components and elements used for connections and attachments (inserts). It can be seen
that most weight savings arise from the sandwich concept with CFRP. The structural
weight of the sandwich amounts to 716 g, including the CFRP facings and both the
additive and the honeycomb cores. This stands against a sheet metal weight of 1335 g,
resulting in weight savings of 46.4 % or 619 g. This implies on the other hand, that the
load introduction elements are heavier in the demonstrator panel as they amount for 164 g
compared to 146 g in the reference panel. This is an increase of 11.2 % or 18 g. The
results show total weight savings of 40.6 % or 601 g [8].

Figure 8:- Weight comparison

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5.2 Number of Parts

Figure 9 compares the number of parts of the demonstrator panel to the
aluminium reference panel. Results indicate that the number of parts is reduced by 50
% from 118 to 59 parts. The integral panel made with AM and CFRP is considered to
be composed of the following parts: 8 additive honeycomb core elements, 7
conventional honeycombs, 2 CFRP facings and 42 inserts. The aluminium panel uses
115 parts to provide 49 attachment interfaces for instruments and 8 interfaces for the
mounting of the two sheet metal support straps. Therefore 2.02 parts per interface
(PPI) are necessary for the differentially designed instrument panel. The demonstrator
panel manages 49 interface points with 42 additive inserts, which results in 0.86 parts
per interface. This is around 2.3 times less parts per interface. Due to the integration
of the supports traps eight interface points are saved. In the differential design two
rivets are required to position and fix one rivet nut, compared to the combined
approach where one insert is plugged into the additive core. Furthermore, additive
manufacturing allows covering several interface points with one insert, thereby
pushing the PPI below one. This is how the number of joining elements is reduced
from 115 to 42 which correspond to a decrease of 63.5 % or 73 parts [8].

Figure 9:- Comparison of the number of parts

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5.3 Layup
The prepreg is cut to net-shape eliminating further machining steps and composite
waste. The complex geometry makes hand layup a suitable technique to form
reinforcement without wrinkles or tears but the following considerations should be taken
into account [4].

 The hand layup for complex shapes necessities a skilled operator.

 Draping on complex shaped tools can lead to deviated fiber angles and fibre
volume contents resulting in locally different mechanical properties.
 The design is limited by the draping characteristics of the reinforcement.
 Ply complexity can be opted for more but simpler geometries.
 Concave geometries require tooling to ensure sufficient laminate compaction.

5.4 Specific Properties

The effectiveness of strength or stiffness of a material for structural lightweight
applications is commonly expressed as a ratio of the mechanical properties to the density.
These strength-to-density or stiffness-to-density quotients are called specific properties.
The mechanical properties of CFRP strongly depend on the fiber angle. Unidirectional
(UD) reinforced composites show high mechanical properties in longitudinal direction as
the fibers are able to carry high loads. However, loads occurring perpendicular to the
fiber direction are carried by the mechanically weak matrix and therefore considerably
reduce the mechanical properties in transverse direction. Consequently the specific
mechanical properties of CFRP are outstanding only in fiber direction. For example, the
specific properties of unidirectional high-tenacity (HTA) carbon fiber reinforced epoxy
with a fiber volume content of 60% displays a specific strength of 1600X103 m2 /s2 and a
specific stiffness of 96X106 m2 /s2 fiber direction but only 35X103 m2 /s2 , 8.4X103 m2
/s2 respectively perpendicular to the fibers. In contrast, the mechanical properties of AM
materials strongly depend on the base material and the process. Although a specific
anisotropy of several percent can be observed, it is neglected during the engineering
design process. The specific static mechanical properties of SLM metals are typically in
the range of wrought conventional materials. Stainless Steel CL20ES ranges in the area of
73X103 m2 /s2 for the specific strength, 25X106 m2 /s2 for the specific stiffness. For
aluminium AlSi12 the values amount to 121X103 m2 /s2 for the specific strength and
28X103 m2 /s2 for the specific strength [6].

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Figure 10:- Comparison of specific strength and stiffness of composites, aerospace alloys
and metals used for SLM

5.5 Geometrical Complexity

Since the direct manufacturing of optimized three dimensional shapes and

topologies is possible. The freedom of design is enormous compared to other
manufacturing technologies albeit not infinite as process dependent limitations
influence the design.
Therefore design rules (e.g. minimal wall thicknesses) are required. Composite
technology usually is used for two-dimensional shell structures, where the thickness
of the laminate is thin compared to the length or width of the part. Curved shapes are
possible and require appropriate molds. Shaping of composites is bound to the usage
of molds which limits the geometrical complexity of the final part [6].

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5.6 Part Size :-

However, there are no limitations to the part size of composite structures. Just
recently, three 75 meters long rotor blades for a six megawatt off-shore wind power
plant were manufactured in one shot (Siemens). However, for AM the building space
is limited. Typical FDM machines as the Stratasys Fortus have a building space of
around 355 x 305 x 305 mm, whereas the SLS machine EOS P 396 covers the area of
medium building spaces with 340 x 340 x 600 mm. A common SLM machine such as
the EOSINT M 280 has a part volume of 250 x 250 x 325 mm. The trend in AM
technology goes towards larger sized parts, higher process stability and an
enlargement of the number processible materials [6].

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6. OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES, AND FUTURE

LOOK
In this section, AM technology is going to be discussed in terms of opportunities,
challenges, and future look. AM technology has a lot of advantages and opportunities to
develop and create a new smart path in different industry applications. Some of these
opportunities have been investigated by different researchers as follows
I. Dealing effectively with structural composite materials by constructing or
optimize material microstructure without changing the material‟s physical
property.
II. The fabrication of continuous fiber- reinforced composites can be done
sufficiently using SL and FDM process for mechanical applications.
III. Ceramics matrix composites can achieve higher properties using SLS and
LENS.
IV. SLS can be used for fabrication polymers and polymers composites with
sufficient mechanical properties.
V. Rapid prototyping has a lot of advantages over conventional techniques,
especially for manufacturing of scaffolds using AM proposed bio-composites.

On the other hand, there a lot of disadvantages and challenges have been studied too through
the literature of AM technology; some of them are provided as follows:
I. The misunderstanding consideration for using rapid prototyping technique for
fabrication of prototypes only as it can be used in producing finished products.
II. Different resolution and properties for XYZ directions because of nonlinear
behaviour of AM proposed parts.
III. The nature of rectangular slicing layer cannot conform to the curved surface,
so bad surface quality and roughness of produced parts is observed. This
phenomenon is called „„stair-stepping‟‟.
IV. Adequate strength and accuracy for metallic parts are required through
development of direct manufacturing techniques.
V. Increase the applied domain of AM proposed materials.
VI. Higher AM system cost.
VII. Disadvantages of support structures as it provides lower quality for the
produced products and those structures are hard to recycle. The optimal build-
up orientation is required to eliminate this problem.
VIII. More research needs to be done in area of layer thickness optimization as it
effects on the processing time and needs larger data files.

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A number of predictions as a future look for AM technology can be achieved through on-
going research and development in this field. Some of those predictions are provided as
follows:
I. More potential users and demands and availability of AM technology will lead
to low or medium cost AM systems within upcoming years.
II. The progress of materials and design process through increasing the speed of
processing.
III. Capability of processing multiple materials within the same AM system.

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7. CONCLUSIONS

In this seminar part made of additive manufacturing and conventional composites

manufacturing is compared. There some results are drawn, First is weight savings of 40 %
can be achieve by replacing conventional method to sandwich method. The total number of
parts can be reduce up to 50 %, discussed the problem accruing composite layout during
conventional methods, while in AM no such problem, comparison between specific
properties, Geometrical Complexity ,part size to be produce by two processes. Additive
manufacturing provides unique opportunities for the manufacture of multi-directional
preforms which have so far been produced only by conventional techniques. Finally, discuss
the challenges facing the broad adoption of additive manufacturing and its application for the
fabrication of composite.

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Part Production with Additive Manufacturing Technologies”, Cirp Conference
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[2] Thomas Hofst¨attera, David B Pedersena, Guido Toselloa,, “Applications of

Fiber-Reinforced Polymers in Additive Manufacturing”,Conference on
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[3] Mostafa Yakout and M. A. Elbestawi, “Additive Manufacturing of

Composite Materials: An Overview”, International Conference on Virtual
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[4] Lukas Triebea & Mirko Meboldt,“Combining Additive Manufacturing with

Advanced Composites for Highly Integrated Robotic Structures”, Cirp Design
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[5] Zhenzhen Quan1, Amanda Wu, Michael Keefe, “Additive manufacturing of

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[6] Türk, Daniel-Alexander,Züger, Andreas, Klahn, Christoph, “Combining

Additive Manufacturing With Cfrp Composites: Design Potentials”,
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[7] Hussien A. Hegab, “Design for additive manufacturing of composite

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[8] Daniel-Alexander Türk, Ralph Kussmaul, “Additive Manufacturing With

Composites For Integrated Aircraft Structures”, SAMPE, 2016, Pp. 1 – 15.

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