Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive

Manufacturing Frontiers
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cjmeamf

3D Printing of Continuous Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites:

Development, Application, and Prospective
Xiaoyong Tian a,∗, Akira Todoroki b,∗, Tengfei Liu a, Lingling Wu a, Zhanghao Hou c,
Masahiro Ueda d, Yoshiyasu Hirano e, Ryosuke Matsuzaki f, Koichi Mizukami g, Keisuke Iizuka h,
Andrei V. Malakhov i, Alexander N. Polilov i, Dichen Li a, Bingheng Lu a
a
State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xian, 710049, China
b
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo,152-8550, Japan
c
Shandong Engineering Research Center for Additive Manufacturing, Qingdao University of Technology, Qingdao, 266033, China
d
Nihon University, Tokyo, 102-0074, Japan
e
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Tokyo, 182-8522, Japan
f
Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo, 162-0825, Japan
g
Ehime University, Ehime, 790-8577, Japan
h
Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo,150-8366, Japan
i
Mechanical Engineering Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 101990, Russia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: Continuous fiber reinforced polymer composites (CFRPC) have been widely used in the field of automobile, air-
3D printing craft, and space due to light weight, high specific strength and modulus in comparison with metal as well as
Continuous fiber reinforced composites alloys. Innovation on 3D printing of CFRPCs opened a new era for the design and fabrication of complicated
Multi-scale composites
composite structure with high performance and low cost. 3D printing of CFRPCs provided an enabling technol-
Light-weight composite structure
ogy to bridge the gaps between advanced materials and innovative structures. State-of-art has been reviewed
Smart composites
according to the correlations of materials, structure, process, and performance as well as functions in 3D printing
of CFRPCs. Typical applications and future perspective for 3D printing of CFRPCs were illustrated in order to
grasp the opportunities and face the challenges, which need much more interdisciplinary researches covering the
advanced materials, process and equipment, structural design, and final smart performance.

1. Introduction tape placement, etc., is still a mold-dependent process, which hinders

Continuous fiber reinforced polymer composites (CFRPC) have been
widely used in the field of automobile, aircraft, and space due to light
weight, high specific strength and modulus in comparison with metal as
well as alloys. Composites used in advanced aircraft, such as A350XWB,
accounted for more than 50% in total material weight. The weight of
component structure could be reduced up to 60% if advanced compos-
ites are employed instead of normal steel. However, expense paid by
using advanced composites is usually much higher than that of conven-
tional metallic materials in three aspects: raw materials, fabrication pro-
cess and equipment, and recycling. Especially, thermosetting composites
are currently widely used and can only be recycled downward with re-
duced material properties and high cost after the end-of-life of products.
Thus, thermoplastic composites have been emerging in the last few years
due to the characters of high creep resistance, easy processing, and fully
recycling, which was promising for the next generation green compos-
ites. Forming of thermoplastic composites, such as injection molding,
the design and fabrication of complicated composite structures.
Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is a new forming
mechanism based on layer-by-layer principle, which can achieve rapid
fabrication of any complicated components. Thermoplastics as well as
their composites are one of the most important and widely used raw
materials for 3D printing processes, such as material extrusion (ME),
laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), providing an efficient method for inte-
grated design and fabrication of multi-scale composite structures [1,2].
Kinds of short fiber, particles have been used as the reinforcing phase
for thermoplastic composites by ME and LPBF process with a limited
(up to 20%) improvement of mechanical performance due to the weak
reinforcement effect [3,4]. Innovation on 3D printing of CFRCs opened
a new era for the design and fabrication of complicated composite struc-
ture with high performance and low cost.
The patents and prototype machine for 3D printing of CFRPCs was
invented and established since 2014 [5], which was a marriage of con-
ventional tape placement process and material extrusion 3D printing

∗
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: leoxyt@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (X. Tian), todoroki.a.aa@m.titech.ac.jp (A. Todoroki).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cjmeam.2022.100016
Received 1 January 2022; Received in revised form 8 February 2022; Accepted 9 February 2022
Available online 17 February 2022
2772-6657/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society (CMES). This is an open access article under the
CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
Fig. 1. Relations of materials-structure- process-performance/functions in 3D printing of CFRPCs.
process due to the similar process principle. In 3D printing process of
CFRPCs, continuous fiber or prepreg was fed into a specially designed
nozzle, and extra materials may also be simultaneously supplied into the
nozzle to realize the co-extrusion printing. Composite preparation and
forming were accomplished in the 3D printing process, which provided
an opportunity for the fabrication of multi-scale composite structure.
Smart materials, such as shape memory polymers (SMP), liquid crystal
elastomer (LCE), have also been utilized to achieve fabrication of smart
composites with multi-function integration and intellectualization. 3D
printing of CFRPCs provide an enabling technology to bridge the gaps
between advanced materials and innovative structures. However, chal-
lenges are still obvious in order to obtain the satisfied performance and
functions of 3D printed composites due to the correlations of materials,
structure, process, and performance as well as functions in 3D printing
of CFRPCs, as shown in Fig. 1.
Thus, in this review, the state-of-art developments of 3D printing
of CFRPCs have been introduced. Research activities and achievements
were summarized following these relations among material, structure,
process, and performance, as shown in Fig. 1, in order to provide a com-
prehensive understanding for these technologies. Then, some typical ap-
plications would be exhibited to show the possible application scenarios.
Finally, perspectives for 3D printing of CFRPCs were proposed for the
potential technological development in the future.
2. Raw Materials
2.1. Fibers
CFRPCs are apparently composed of at least two constituents, the
continuous fiber as reinforcement and the polymers as matrix. The
mainly properties of CFRPCs in terms of strength, elastic and load bear-
ing capacity arise from reinforcement fiber. Depending on the require-
ments for different applications, by 3D printing of CFRPCs, polymers can
be reinforced with carbon fiber, glass fiber, Kevlar fiber, natural fiber
like jute, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber,
and so on. The reinforcement of continuous fibers and their properties
used for 3D printed CFRPCs are shown in Table 1. Due to the high stiff-
ness and strength of carbon fiber, it was mostly used as reinforcement
in 3D printed composites especially for the applications in aerospace
and vehicles. More importantly, 1K carbon bundle with an extremely
thin diameter allows to be pulled successfully from the nozzle. The
variable bundle diameter of carbon fibers (1K, 3K, etc.) in 3D printed
composites synergistically improved the ultimate mechanical properties
and accuracy [6–10]. Glass fibers were relatively inexpensive and ex-
hibit fairly good mechanical properties and less stringent on weight and
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Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016
strength, therefore were normally used as reinforcement of 3D printed
composites especially for sports industry [11]. Kevlar fiber was often
used in 3D printing of lightweight complex structures composites owing
to its lightweight and impact resistance characteristic [12]. Jute fibers
classified as natural fibers derived from plants were employed to rein-
force “green” composites [9]. Despite lightweight and high strength of
UHMWPE fibers, it is rarely used as reinforcement of 3D printing of CFR-
PCs composites on account of its low melting temperature needs lower
melting temperature matrix to compatible with [13].
2.2. Matrix
Depending on the molecular structure, the polymer matrix utilized
in 3D printing of CFRPCs can be divided into thermosetting polymers
and thermoplastic polymers. The thermosetting polymers have a cross-
linked polymer network, resulting in their great thermal and chemical
stability and high strength. Due to the strong three-dimensional spa-
tial network in thermoset resins, it cannot be reused once cured. This
is in stark contrast to thermoplastic polymer which possess repeatable
utilization and recyclability. The intrinsic limitation of premature gela-
tion and post treatment were required in order to achieve curing reac-
tions when employing thermosetting composites in material extrusion
process accounting for few relevant studies [14,15]. Material extrusion
with thermoplastic polymers were widely used as matrix in 3D printing
of CFRPCs. Due to the broad selection of thermoplastic polymers, it is
important to know material properties (physical and mechanical prop-
erties) and printability when choosing the appropriate polymers for the
finished product. Thermoplastic matrix materials used for 3D printed
composite are listed in Table 2. As raw materials for 3D printed compos-
ites, the standard and engineering levels of thermoplastic such as poly-
lactic acid (PLA) [9,16], acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) [17], as
well as nylon (PA) [6], have been widely used. With increasing require-
ment on temperature resistance and bio-compatibility, advanced plas-
tics such as polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) [18] were utilized to meet
the critical requirements rising in the field of aerospace and biomedical
applications.
2.3. Pre-impregnated composite filament
Original fiber or dry fiber and polymer matrix can be directly used
in the 3D printing process of CFRPCs, which could cause an insuffi-
cient interface and voids in the composites between fiber and matrix
due to the inefficient impregnation period and pressure in the print-
ing head. Thus, in order to enhance interfacial bonding, fibers could be
impregnated with matrix in advance by using conventional composite
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016

Table 1
Normally used reinforcement of continuous fibers and their properties used for 3D printing of CFRPCs.

Continuous fiber Properties Ref. No.

Tensile strength Tensile modulus Tensile

Density (g/cm3 ) Diameter (𝜇m) (bundle) Model (GPa) (GPa) strain-to-failure (%)

Carbon 1.76 7.5 (1000) T300B-1000-50C ‒ ‒ ‒ [6]

10 (1000) T300 ‒ ‒ ‒ [7]
7.5 (3000) T300B-3000-50C ‒ ‒ ‒ [8]
10 (1000) ‒ 3.5 230 1.5 [9]
Glass 2.54 13 (1000) ‒ 2.2
‒ 21
‒ ‒ [11]
Kevlar 1.43 12 800D ‒
3.5 ‒
131 ‒
2.8 [12]
Jute 1.5 20‒200 ‒ 0.417 27.4 2.81 [9]
UHMWPE 0.97 25 (670) 600D 3 170 3.5 [13]

Table 2
Characteristics of normally used thermoplastic polymer for 3D printing of CFRPCs.

Matrix Characteristics
polymer
Density (g/cm3 ) Tensile strength (MPa) Tensile modulus (GPa) Flexural modulus (GPa) Melting temperature (°C) Melt flow index (g/10 min) Ref. No.

PLA 1.26 42.6 2.25 2.392 170 2‒36 [9,16]

ABS 1.05 50 2.1 2 170 0.6‒15 [17]
PA 1.1 60 2.2 0.84 211‒265 15‒75 [6]
PEEK 1.4 90 3.6 340‒344 4‒49.5 [18]

Fig. 2. (a) Schematic of melted polymer pre-

impregnating process [19]; (b) Schematic of contin-
uous carbon fiber sizing process with PA6 [6]; (c) a
device for polymer impregnated carbon fiber bundles
[10].

preparation process, for example, melted polymer impregnation and im-
mersing with polymer powder suspension. By melted polymer impreg-
nation, pre-impregnated composite filament was produced by incorpo-
rated melted polymers into fiber bundle in a screw extruder with a heat-
ing device, and then solidify as a filament [19,20], as shown in Fig. 2(a).
By using powder suspension as medium, continuous fiber bundle was
sized by immersing fiber into the polymer powder suspension, by which
powders could be embedded into the fiber bundle carried by the liquid
flow, as shown in Fig. 2(b) and (c). Subsequently, immersed fiber bun-
dles were dried and pulled through the heated mold into a filament with
a certain diameter [6,10,21]. In the pre-impregnation process, the fibers
were typically pre-loaded to ease the contact and penetration with the
polymer matrix. And then, pre-impregnated composite filament can be
generally used as raw material for the 3D printing of CFRPCs.
3. 3D Printing Processes and Equipment
3.1. 3D printing of thermoplastic composites
3.1.1. In-situ material extrusion with dry carbon fiber and polymer matrix
The in-situ impregnation method [9,12,16,17,22-26] has been used
in the material extrusion-based 3D printing process for CFRPCs, by
which thermoplastic resin filament and reinforcing fibers were sepa-
rately supplied to the printer head. The polymer filament was molten
by the heater inside the printer head, and the reinforcing fibers were
impregnated with polymer in the heater and then consolidated after
extrusion. The polymer and reinforcing fibers were extruded from the
nozzle and laminated on the hot table, as shown in Fig. 3(a), (b), and
(c). The continuous carbon fiber reinforced PLA was 3D printed with a
6.6% fiber volume fraction and the tensile modulus and strength were
19.5±2.08 GPa and 185.2±24.6 MPa, respectively, which are 599% and
435% of those of the PLA specimen [9]. Composites with carbon fiber
content of 27% was achieved with hatch spacing of 0.4 mm when in-situ
printing CF/PLA composites, meanwhile the average flexural strength
reached to 335 MPa and flexural modulus to 30 GPa [16]. Thereafter,
the fiber volume fraction was improved up to 50% using 1K fiber tow
and the 0.3 mm outlet diameter of the nozzle. The experimental results
showed that the longitudinal tensile modulus and strength of the 3D-
printed coupon were 81.0±3.1 GPa and 731±32 MPa [27]. Although
the impregnation process needs to be controlled during the 3D print-
ing process in the in-situ impregnation method, fiber and resin can be
selected arbitrarily and the fiber tow size can be selected [9,12,28].
3.1.2. 3D printing of pre-impregnation composite filament
Markforged (USA) started to distribute the MarkOne from 2015,
which was the world first commercially available 3D printers that

3
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
produced continuous fiber reinforced composites [29] Fig. 4.(a) shows
the schematic process principle of the MarkOne printer system. There
are two print nozzles in a print heat, one is used to print thermoplastic
filament; the other is used to print pre-impregnation composites fila-
ment. Subsequently, this printer from Markforged was widely used for
the researches of 3D printing of composites [7,11,22,30-32]. Continuous
carbon fiber filament produced by Markforged had approximately 30%
volume fraction. Cross-sectional view of the printed specimen along the
direction of 0°, and the voids between the print paths and layers can be
found in Fig. 4(b) [7]. The void ratio of unidirectional carbon fiber spec-
imen from MarkTwo printers is reached approximately 7% [32]. Other
closely related activities were how to prepare continuous fiber prepreg
filament for 3D printing. Hu et al [19]. utilized conventional melt-
impregnation method with high pressure provided by screw extruder,
and Liu et al. [6], Matsuzaki et al. [10] applied solution-impregnation
method with good flowability to produce continuous fiber prepreg fil-
ament and print composites respectively. Then, Liu et al. [8] utilized
micro-screw extruder to realize the in-situ-extrusion and 3D printing
of continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites, as shown in
Fig. 4(c)‒(g). Fiber volume fraction was dramatically improved to 50.2
vol% for CCF/PA12 exceeding previous research works, which signifi-
cantly promoted longitudinal tensile strength and modulus up to 735.7
MPa and 79.5 GPa. In comparison with in-situ materials extrusion, 3D
printing of pre-impregnation composite filaments could achieve related
denser microstructure and higher mechanical properties. However, uti-
lization of pre-impregnated filament would reduce the process flexibility
to realize a variable fiber content in fabricated composite structure by
real-time adjusting of process parameters.
3.2. 3D printing of thermosetting composites
Thermosetting polymers suffers a significant increasing in viscosity
before suddenly turning into a solid. The temperature dependence of vis-
cosity makes it difficult to infuse thermosetting polymers into fiber bun-
dles and hardly cure promptly into a solid while using as the matrix of
3D printing composites. Hao et al. demonstrated a low-cost FDM equip-
ment for fabricating continuous carbon fiber reinforced epoxy resin (E-
54(616)) composites [14]. Ming et al. [15,33] impregnated continu-
ous carbon fiber with EP-20 (Fig. 5(a), (b)) and took dicyandiamide
(DICY) as the curing agent. Hence, the whole 3D printing process of ther-
mosetting composites was separated into three modules: impregnating,
printing, and post curing. The resulting composites with a curing and
crosslinking degree of 99% showed a tensile strength and tensile mod-
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Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016
Fig. 3. (a)(b) 3D printing process of the continuous
carbon fiber reinforced composite [23]; (c) Schematic
representation of the 3D printing process for continu-
ous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRT-
PCs) [17]; (d) 3D-printed CFRTPCs and dumbbell-
shaped JFRTP tensile test specimens, as well as cross-
section of specimen [9].
uli of 1476 MPa and 100 GPa, respectively. Shi et al. [34] reported a
dynamic capillary-driven 3D printing approach with a controllable vis-
cosity and curing degree of resin to enable its fast and near-simultaneous
infusion and curing, which can implement in-situ solidification of com-
posites into arbitrary shapes, as shown in Fig. 5(c), (d). The localized
in-plane thermal assisted (LITA) 3D-printed composite exhibited a ten-
sile strength of 810 MPa and a modulus of ∼108 GPa. He et al. [35] pre-
sented the first design of a 3D printer head for direct-ink-writing that
leverages the shear stress imposed on the fiber, as a result it can over-
come the limitations on printable resins.
3.3. 3D printing of self-reinforcing composites
Unlike traditional fiber reinforced composites made up of different
constituents, self-reinforced composite (SRC) materials [36] consist of
matrix and reinforcing phases, which are composed of the homogeneous
material that belong to the same family of polymers but show different
melting temperature. Conventionally, hot compaction was the mostly
used method to manufacture continuous fiber self-reinforced composites
(CFSRCs) [37]. 3D printing of continuous fiber reinforced composite
was exploited to fabricate complicate structures of CFSRCs [13]. The
scheme of 3D printing of CFSRCs is demonstrated in Fig. 6(a), (b) by
precisely controlling the process window of temperature in the nozzle,
which was slightly lower than the melting point of fiber and higher than
that of matrix. The ultimate tensile strength of 3D printed continuous
UHMWPE fibers reinforced high-density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix,
as well as Young’s modulus, were 300.2 MPa and 8.2 GPa, respectively,
as shown in Fig. 6(c), which were much higher than those of the HDPE
matrix. Furthermore, trans-crystallization as an interface between fibers
and matrix that occurred in the process of 3D printing, which could
produce a higher interfacial bonding than that of heterogeneous fiber
and matrix. Meanwhile, fully recyclability of 3D-printed CFSRCs has
also been demonstrated for potential applications of green composites
by converting the CFSRCs into pure polymer raw materials, as shown in
Fig. 6(d).
3.4. Assisting processes
3.4.1. Extra energy assisting 3D printing of CFRPCs
Weak interlayer bonding is a critical limitation for the performance
of 3D printed CFRPCs by material extrusion process, which is mainly
caused by the relatively low temperature of the previously deposited
layer, and less polymer matrix due to appearance of continuous fiber
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
Fig. 4. (a) Schematic representation of MarkOne system [29]; (b) Cross-sectional view of 0°CF/PA composites specimen [7]; (c) Schematic of micro-screw in-situ
extrusion based 3D printing of continuous fiber reinforced composites; (d) 3D printing equipment; (e) Pre-extruded filaments; (f) Standard mechanical test specimens;
(g) Honeycomb structure part [8].
between the adjacent layers. In order to improve the interlayer bond-
ing performance, Luo et al. [18,38] introduced laser-assisted preheating
in the 3D printing process of CFRPCs to reduce the temperature gra-
dient between the nozzle and the previous layer, as shown in Fig. 7.
The interlaminar shear strength and flexural strength of the CCF/PEEK
composites can reach over 35 MPa and 480 MPa respectively, which
gives a promising candidate for the preparation of complex structural
parts in aviation and aerospace as a metal replacement. Furthermore, a
plasma-laser cooperatively assisted 3D printing process was utilized to
improve the bi-scale interface. Interlaminar shear strength can be im-
proved from 5.78 MPa to 39.05 MPa. After analyzing the failure mode
and bi-scale interfacial bond mechanism, it’s found that the laser mainly
improves the interlayer bond and crystallinity, while the plasma effec-
tively improves the mechanical modulus by treating the surface of the
carbon fibers chemically and physically. Nakagawa et al. [39] used laser
heating to improve the strength and stiffness of 3D printed carbon fiber
reinforced plastic parts. The tensile strength of CFRPCs specimens was
2 times higher by laser heating than that without the carbon fiber [40].
3.4.2. Consolidation 3D printing of CFRPCs
The challenge of the current state of the art of the printing technolo-
gies is the very low 3D printing speed of CFRPCs. The above-mentioned
challenge is mainly caused by the intrinsically contact-needed and slow
heat conduction from the conventional heating nozzle to the contin-
uous carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic filaments. Li et al. [41,42]
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Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016
proposed a high-speed 3D microwave printing technology of continuous
carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastics, using microwave heating in 3D
printing of CCFRP instead of the traditional resistive heating (Fig. 8(a)).
Without the intrinsic slow speed and contact-needed heat transfer dis-
advantages, the instantaneous and volumetric heating benefits of mi-
crowave allows the fabrication of composites at higher speed. Due to
the short impregnation and bonding process in 3D printing process, fab-
ricated products generally had a lower mechanical performance than
those fabricated by conventional molding techniques due to the inclu-
sion of many voids and the lower interfacial shear strength between
adjacent layers [16,43]. To resolve this problem, Ueda et al. [44] pro-
posed a hot-compaction roller technique for 3D printing to reduce voids
and improve the adhesion between layers in a 3D-printed product. A hot-
compaction roller was equipped with a nozzle tip of a 3D printer to press
the filament against the printer bed immediately after the printing to
reduce voids and improve adhesion between the filaments, as shown in
Fig. 8(b). The void fractions of 3D printed CFRPCs with hot-compaction
was approximately 3% lower than 10% for composites without roller
consolidation and, which indicated that the voids were discharged by
hot compaction during printing.
3.4.3. Fiber cutting
Fiber cutting mechanism is usually required during 3D printing of
complicated composites structures for empty jump without unneces-
sary fiber traction. An empty jump path generates during 3D printing
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016

Fig. 5. (a) As-designed impregnating equipment; (b) Surface of the filaments impregnated [15]; (c) Schematic of LITA 3D-printing approach; (d) Temperature
distribution on the carbon fibers during wicking and curing [34].

Fig. 6. (a) Partial surface melting of UHMWPE fibers; (b) Recrystallization of UHMWPE fibers; (c) Mechanical properties of the CFSRCs printed at various tempera-
tures; (d)) Closed-loop recycling of 3D printed CFSRCs [13].

6
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
Fig. 8. (a) 3D microwave printing process [36]; (b) 3D compaction printer [44].
process when the part has separated structural features, during which
the nozzle travels from the last printing end point to the new print start
point without materials extrusion. Zhang et al. [20] integrated a cut-
ting device into the nozzle, realized the processing strategy for path
jumping joint, and finally validated the 3D printing process, as shown
in Fig. 9(a)‒(c), respectively. Some commercial 3D printers for contin-
uous fiber were also equipped with fiber cutting function. Adi et al.
[45] manufactured complex structural parts by fiber cutting 3D printer
from Anisiprint Company, as shown in Fig. 9(d). However, fiber cutting
will increase the processing time, and more likely to induce stress con-
centration resulting in low overall mechanical performance. Thus, it is
necessary to design the 3D printing path of continuous fiber based on
the structural features to reduce the jump points and maintaining the
continuity of the fiber path. Yao et al. [46] proposed a global contin-
uous fill path strategy and printed a multiple branches structure with
shorter printing time than normal path, as shown in Fig. 9(e) and (f).
Studies on continuous fiber path are still under investigation.
3.5. Post treatment for 3D printed composites
Cured thermosetting materials requires a post treatment to cross-
linked when it used as the matrix of 3D printed CFRPCs. A post treatment
procedure was proposed to density the 3D printed thermosetting CFR-
7
Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016
Fig. 7. Diagram of laser-assisted preheating 3D
printing process [13].
PCs [15]. Pre-formed CFRPCs samples by 3D printing were embedded
into sodium chloride powders with an external vacuum pump, there-
upon the entire device was placed in an oven, infiltrating at 130 °C
for 1 h and cured at 160 °C for 1 h, as shown in Fig. 10(a) and (b).
Thermosetting resin were evenly distributed, and an extensive cross-
linking was achieved due to the infiltration and curing processes. On
the other hand, the 3D-printed thermoplastic composites product gen-
erally has deficiencies regarding mechanical properties on the inclusion
of many voids generated in the printing process and the poor interfacial
shear strength. Techniques that compaction [44] and autoclave process
[47] after 3D printing process of thermoplastic composites have been
also studied, as shown in Fig. 10(c). A 3D printed specimen was heated
and compressed by a hot-press machine (IMC-180C, Imoto Seisakusho)
which was heated to 230 °C, maintained at a pressure of 0.1 MPa for 10
min, and then remained for approximately 60 min. Bending modulus
and strength of 3D printed composite specimens were improved by hot
pressing up to 69.2±2.3 GPa and 950±18 MPa, respectively.
Thus, in order to meet the industrial requirement for 3D printed
composites, multiple energies and measures could be applied to densify
the microstructures and improve the interlaminar bonding strength. 3D
printing process would merge with conventional processes to take ad-
vantages from both sides, which could promote the industrialization of
3D printed high performance composites.
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016

Fig. 9. Fiber cutting for 3D printed continuous fiber reinforced composites: (a) cutting device [20]; (b) processing method of jumping point [20]; (c) validated
sample [20]; (d) complex structures with fiber cutting [45]; (e) multiple branches structure of normal path [46]; (f) multiple branches structure of optimized path
[46].

Fig. 10. (a) Schematic illustration of the curing pro-

cess; (b) The cured CFRTPC samples [15]; (c) Hot
pressing for 3D printed specimen [44].

8
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
Fig. 11. Fiber-matrix interface of 3D printed CFRPCs: (a) fiber surface with thermosetting resin [15]; (b) fractured cross section of thermosetting composites [14];
(c) dry carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites[16]; (d) sized carbon fiber reinforced PA6 composites [6]; (e) sized carbon fiber reinforced PLA composites
[23]; (f) plasma treated carbon fiber reinforced PEEK composites [39].
4. Multi-scale Structures in 3D Printed CFRPCs
4.1. Microstructures
4.1.1. Fiber-matrix interface
The interface between fiber and matrix is one of the most important
factors to influence the composites’ mechanical properties owing to its
load transition effect. For thermosetting composites, the interface was
mainly chemical bond interaction formed by cross-linking reaction be-
tween the thermosetting sizing layer and resin matrix during curing pro-
cess, leading to high bonding strength. Ming et al. [15] observed that the
fiber surface was fully and evenly covered with resin in the cured sam-
ples, as shown in Fig. 11(a), and Hao et al. [14] found that fiber break-
age was the dominant failure mode in the fractured cross sections, as
shown in Fig. 11(b), indicating a good interfacial bonding performance.
Instead of high chemical bonding, only relatively weak physical inter-
actions such as mechanical interlocking, surface wetting and molecular
chains diffusion exist in the thermoplastic composites’ interfacial area.
However, even the above weak interactions cannot be well established
because of the low forming pressure and short time in the 3D printing
nozzle. It is going to be worse for some commercial dry carbon fibers
coated with epoxy sizing layer which is incompatible with thermoplas-
tic matrix owing to their different chemical structures, and large fiber
pull-out often happened, which can be seen in Fig. 11(c) [16]. In order
to overcome these problems, Liu et al. [6] conducted sizing treatment
to carbon fiber for improving the compatibility with PA6 matrix, and
the interfacial adhesion was promoted with 42.2% of ILSS increasing
and reduced fiber debonding and slippage, as shown in Fig. 11(d). Sim-
ilarly, Li et al. prepared PLA sizing agent with surface active to modify
the surface condition of carbon fibers, as shown in Fig. 11(e) [23]. Luo
et al. attempted plasma-laser treatment to carbon fibers for improving
their interfacial bonding with PEEK as shown in Fig. 11(f) [39].
4.1.2. Interlaminar bonding interface
Interlaminar bonding interface in 3D printed CFRPCs is mainly
formed by thermal diffusion of polymer molecules during layer-by-layer
deposition process, which is usually considered as a weakness of the 3D
printed components. Especially for 3D printed CFRPCs, the anisotropy
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Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016
is more obvious due to the lack of continuous fiber in Z direction.
Caminero et al. obtained a interlaminar shear strength of 31.94 MPa for
continuous carbon fiber reinforced nylon composites by using 3D printer
from Markforged, which was much lower than the tensile strength of
700 MPa along the fiber direction [48]. Interlaminar bonding perfor-
mance of 3D printed CFRPCs was also influenced by process param-
eters including forming temperature and pressure, and fiber content
[16]. Moreover, for some special engineering plastics with high melt-
ing temperature and crystalline property such as PEEK, PPS, PEI, etc.,
large temperature gradients between layers and crystallization shrink-
age would bring internal residual stress, resulting in even worse inter-
laminar bonding strength. Delamination occurred firstly during loading
and continuous fiber could not play an enhancement role very well.
Several methods have been developed to improve the interlayer bond-
ing performance and external energy was usually applied to promote the
molecular chains’ movement. Sweeney et al. [49] conducted microwave
heating for PLA coated with CNTs and the interface fracture strength was
improved by 275%, as shown in Fig. 12(a). Kishore et al. [50] printed
short carbon fiber reinforced ABS composites through infrared lamp pre-
heating (Fig. 12b) and a significant increase of the interlayer fracture en-
ergy of heated samples was observed than non-heated samples. Partain
et al. [51] used localized heating air to improve the interlayer bonding
strength of ABS samples (Fig. 12(c)). Luo et al. [18] introduced laser
preheating into 3D printing of continuous carbon fiber reinforced PEEK
composites (Fig. 12(d)) and the interlaminar shear strength reached over
35 MPa, which was 273% higher than that without laser preheating.
4.1.3. Porosity
Void defects in 3D printed CFRCPs are mainly produced by diffi-
cult resin impregnation into the fiber bundle, which may cause internal
stress concentration and aggravate the failure of composites. Thermoset-
ting composites could achieve low porosity through a simple process
owing to the low viscosity (<1 Pa•s) of liquid resin matrix. Ming et al.
[15] presented a 2.53% of void content in 3D printed carbon fiber re-
inforced EP-20 composites, as shown in Fig. 13(a). However, most of
thermoplastic matrixes had high melt viscosity (>1000 Pa•s) because
of linear macromolecular chain structure, which inhibited permeation
of melt polymer into fiber bundle. In in-situ 3D printing process, dry
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
Fig. 13. Porosity of 3D printed CFRPCs: (a) thermosetting composites [15]; (b) microstructure of dry fiber in-situ printing [24]; (c) CT scan images of dry Kevlar
fiber reinforced PLA [52]; (d, e) microstructure of melt-impregnation [8]; (f) microstructure of solution-impregnation [53].
fiber bundle and polymer were compounded in nozzle directly with very
low impregnation pressure and short time, which could only achieve
surface impregnation on the fiber bundle and cause serious internal
voids, as shown in Fig. 13(b) [24]. Hou et al. [52] reported that the
porosity of dry Kevlar fiber reinforced PLA was up to 6.8% with a fiber
volume fraction of 50%, as shown in Fig. 13(c). Tian et al. [16] tried
to optimize the process parameters which influenced the printing pres-
sure and temperature to enhance the impregnation but the effects were
inadequate. A more effective way to reduce porosity was to utilize pre-
impregnation technology to prepare prepreg filament for 3D printing.
Hu et al. [19], Garofalo et al. [21], and Liu et al. [8] carried out conven-
tional melt-impregnation method to provide high pressure by screw ex-
truder which almost could realize full impregnation and reported poros-
ity could be reduced to less than 1%, as shown in Fig. 13(d) and 13(e).
Matsuzaki et al. [53] applied solution-impregnation method with good
flowability to produce prepreg filament and the impregnation was also
found to be effectively improved than dry fiber, as shown in Fig. 13(f).
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Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016
Fig. 12. Interlayer bonding interface enhance-
ment methods for 3D printing: (a) microwave heat-
ing [49]; (b) infrared lamp preheating [50]; (c)
heating air [51]; (d) laser preheating [18].
4.2. Macrostructure
4.2.1. Curvilinear fiber path planning
It is inevitable that the parts need to be connected or assembled
by opening holes, which will lead to a larger stress concentration. The
curvilinear fiber design instead of straight fiber can improve the perfor-
mance of the open-hole composite structure [54–56]. Yamanaka et al.
[57] proposed a curvilinear fiber path design method based on genetic
algorithm and streamline. The results of numerical simulation show that
the curvilinear fiber design can increase the fracture strength of the
open-hole structure by 173%. Sugiyama et al. [55] optimized the curvi-
linear fiber path to realize variable fiber volume fraction and stiffness
composites using a continuous fiber composites 3D printer, as shown in
Fig. 14(a). The bolt joint tensile stiffness per unit weight of the opti-
mized structure were 9.4 times higher than those of conventional linear
laminates. Hou et al. [58] proposed an adaptive polymer feed algorithm
to realize the integrated 3D printing of curvilinear fiber reinforced com-
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
Fig. 14. (a) Curvilinear fiber reinforced structure [55]; (b) Design method of curvilinear fiber path [58]; (c) Fiber distribution and stress distribution of curvilinear
fiber reinforced structure after optimization [58].
posite structures, and optimized the fiber direction and fiber content
based on the stress gradient (Fig. 14(b)). Through the optimization de-
sign method, as shown in Fig. 14(c), the fiber content distribution cor-
responds to the stress distribution, and the fiber direction distribution
corresponds to the maximum principal stress direction distribution. At
the same time, the stress was redistributed to reduce the stress con-
centration. The above research shows that curvilinear fiber path design
can greatly improve the performance of composite parts, and has broad
prospects in engineering applications.
4.2.2. Z-reinforcement strategies
Z-direction performance refers to the bearing capacity of the compo-
nent in the thickness direction, which is mainly manifested in the ability
to maintain interlayer bonding and macro-structure stability under the
action of Z-direction load or low energy impact load. This is an obvious
drawback for 3D printing of continuous fiber reinforced composites. In
order to improve the Z-direction strength, several strategies have been
investigated in a macroscale except for the abovementioned enhancing
the interlaminar bonding strength by extra energy [59] in a microscale.
As shown in Ref. [60], the tensile strength in the layup direction of
a material extrusion 3D printed composite sample was only 26.8% of
that for 90° specimen. Duty et al. [61] proposed a z-pinning method
that adopts injection of molten plastic with chopped carbon fibers into
holes. However, all these methods have not adopted continuous fibers
in the layup direction. Todoroki et al. [62] proposed making through
holes in the pillar parts. Reinforcing bars were printed with continu-
ous carbon fiber composites as separated parts. After printing, the re-
inforcing bars were inserted into the through holes of the pillar parts.
Large electric current was applied to the reinforcing bar, and the re-
inforcing bar and the pillar part were fused by self-heating of the re-
inforcing bar. The polymer matrix PA6 in the bars was fused and the
fusion process was completed. For the tree-point bending tests with-
out reinforcing bars, the apparent fracture stress was 22.7 MPa. For the
tests with reinforcing bars, the apparent fracture stress was 88.6 MPa.
This process increases 400% of fracture stress in the layup direction.
In order to improve the inter-line bonding performance of 3D printed
continuous fiber reinforced composites, an innovative sinusoidal-path
extrusion 3D printing method was proposed [28]. The results showed
that as the amplitude and frequency of the sinusoidal path increased,
the inter-line tensile strength, tensile modulus and fracture energy ab-
sorption of CCF/PLA composites increased 95.4%, 57.3% and 165%, re-
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Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016
spectively. A multi-degree of freedom 3D printing system based on the
robotic arm system was utilized to provide a platform for Z-wave struc-
ture, as shown in Fig. 15(c). It provided the potential for an extrusion-
forming Z-direction enhancement method with sinusoidal layer shapes
that could even achieve comprehensive control of the anisotropy of 3D
printed composites.
4.3. Cross-scale structure concurrent optimization
Properties of 3D printed CFRPCs were greatly influenced by the fiber
orientation. Meanwhile, the performance of 3D printed CFRPC com-
ponents was also determined by the topological structure, which can
be realized by the free form fabrication capability by 3D printing. For
isotropic metallic materials, topological optimization has been widely
used for the design of lightweight component, even concurrent optimiza-
tion with lattice structures. However, for 3D printed CFRPCs, topologi-
cal optimization is quite difficult due to the significant anisotropic prop-
erties. Fiber orientation directly determines the maximum load bearing
directions. Thus, how to achieve concurrent optimization on fiber ori-
entation and topological structure (see Fig. 16(a)) has been a huge chal-
lenge for the design and 3D printing of advanced composite structures.
Wang et al. [63] developed a load-dependent path planning method
under the stress vector tracing algorithm for 3D printed CFRPCs, where
fiber trajectories are generated along the load transmission path. Com-
pared with concentric and zigzag printing path under the same macro
structure shape, the planned path has shown well load-bearing that
match the stress vector. The printed L-shape part with carbon fiber re-
inforced polyamide filaments was exhibited, but lack of further exper-
imental validation, as shown in Fig. 16(b). Papapetrou et al. [64] in-
troduced two optimization frames for topology, and the infill pattern
schemes for CFRPCs have been demonstrated. The designed structure,
furthermore, were fabricated and analyzed using 3D printing in the re-
cent study [65], as shown in Fig. 16(c). Liu et al. [66] proposed a con-
current design method under a unified level set framework for addi-
tively manufactured structures, which aims to concurrently optimize the
deposition path planning and the topological profile. The planned de-
position path possessed variable orientation that majority matches the
principal stress direction. The effectiveness has been proved through a
few numerical case studies, although the feasibility of the manufactur-
ing and experimental validation is not reported. Huang et al. [67] de-
veloped a multiscale design strategy using a concurrent optimization
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
Fig. 16. (a) Schematic illustration of dual-scale structure; (b) L-shaped part [63]; (c) MBB beam with optimized infill under testing [64]; (d) MBB beam with
concurrent optimization under testing [67].
algorithm and a novel path planning method. Continuous fiber com-
posite structures with simultaneously optimized fiber orientation and
topology structure were produced by 3D printing. Structural stiffness
and peak load have been improved by 36.27% and 64.43% respectively
for MBB beam, as shown in Fig. 16(d). To date, only a few studies have
tried to simultaneously utilize the advantage of optimized fiber orienta-
tion and topological structure. The integration between theatrical opti-
mized results and additive manufacturing for CFRCs has been still facing
challenge.
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Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016
Fig. 15. (a) Three-dimensional jig of a new Z-
reinforcement method; (b) Tensile test structure
with the reinforcing bar; (c) The 3D printed sample
by multi-degree of freedom 3D printing system.
5. Performance and Functions Oriented Innovative Design
5.1. Light-weight composite structure
Continuous fiber reinforced lightweight structures (CFRLSs) fully
combine the advantages of low material density and strong structural
designability, and are widely used in lightweight applications (such as
aerospace, aviation, etc.). However, traditional fabricating processes of-
ten require molds and assembly, resulting in long fabricating time, high
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
Fig. 17. 3D printing of CFRLSs: (a) grid structure [68], (b) truss structure [26], and (c) corrugated structure [12].
cost, and difficulty in fabricating complex-shaped lightweight struc-
tures, which limits the application and development of CFRLSs. Contin-
uous fiber reinforced composites 3D printing provides a new low-cost
and rapid fabricating method for CFRLSs. Sugiyama et al. [68] used the
tension of continuous fibers during the printing process to directly print
the skin structure on the grid core, and realized the integrated 3D print-
ing of the grid core and the skin structure. Liu et al. [26] realized the
unsupported 3D printing of the truss core through path design based
on the enhancement of material stiffness by continuous fibers, which
proved the feasibility of continuous fiber suspension printing. Hou et al.
[12] proposed a path lap 3D printing method to achieve high perfor-
mance and low-cost integrated fabrication of complex-shaped CFRLSs.
The effects of process parameters and printing paths on fiber distribution
and structural properties are studied. The results show that the fiber con-
tent, structure configuration and density of lightweight structures can
be adjusted through process parameters and printing path design, which
greatly expands the design space of CFRLSs [12,69,70]. 3D printing of
CFRLSs has broad application prospects in aerospace and other fields as
shown in Fig. 17
5.2. Shape morphing composite structure
Continuous fibers reinforced thermoplastic composites prepared by
3D printing process can also show the shape morphing ability, and
the generation mechanism of deformation effect mainly includes shape
memory effect and difference in CTEs (coefficients of thermal expan-
sion). The composites with the matrix of the shape memory polymer
can be restored to its original shape from a temporary shape at thermal
transition temperature. Zeng et al. [71] prepared 3D printed continuous
fibers reinforced composite honeycomb structures. At the ambient tem-
perature of 70 °C, the shape memory PLA matrix in rubber state shows
great deformation ability and low elastic modulus. Therefore, compared
with room temperature, 3D printed honeycomb structures have lower
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Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016
stiffness and greater deformation capacity at 70 °C, and is not easy to
be damaged during compression. Although the deformation during the
forming process is as high as 50%, there is no obvious fracture in the
honeycomb structure as shown in Fig. 18(a). Zeng et al. [72] also carried
out thermomechanical cycle test on 4D printed continuous fibers rein-
forced composite honeycomb structures. The thermomechanical cycle
test includes four steps: applying displacement, cooling, displacement
rebound and free recovery, as shown in Fig. 18(b). The results show
that when the sine wave amplitude of the cell wall is 6 mm, the sample
still shows good shape recovery ability in the free recovery stage under
the pressure of maximum displacement of 20 mm and does not produce
yield failure. Dong et al [73]. tested the effects of printing parameters
and structural parameters on shape recovery rates of the 3D printed con-
tinuous fibers reinforced composite structures. The results showed that
the shape recovery ability decreased with the increase of cell length. As
the thickness of the print layer decreases, the shape recovery rate also
decreases, as shown in Fig. 18(c).
In addition, the bilayer composites can also deform with the change
of temperature utilizing the difference in CTEs between continuous
fibers and resin matrix. Wang et al. [74]. prepared the bilayer struc-
ture with continuous fibers embedded by the FFF process. Due to the
resin and fibers in the bilayer structure are gradient distributed, bend-
ing deformation can occur during heating, and the value and direction
of deformation principal curvature depend on the distribution of con-
tinuous fibers. The design scheme of continuous fiber trajectory is de-
veloped, and the deformation method of any deployable surface is de-
veloped Fig. 18(d) shows the 4D printing design method of composites
that can be deformed to a target conical shape, and the results show
that the deformation curvature error of conical shape is less than 6%.
On this basis, Wang et al. [75]. prepared a bistable soft jumping robot
with continuous fibers embedded, and the fiber trajectory can be pro-
grammed to make the soft robot have multimodal jumping ability and
realize self-decision function, as shown in Fig. 18(e).
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
5.3. Embedded sensing by continuous fiber in 3D printed composites
In general, structural health monitoring requires the installation of
additional sensors on the surface or inside the structure, such as strain
gauges, fiber optic sensors, etc. However, these sensors will not only
increase the weight of the structure itself, but even weaken the mechan-
ical strength of the structure greatly due to the embedding of sensors. In
recent years, continuous carbon fiber has attracted extensive research in
the field of structural health monitoring due to their excellent electrical
conductivity and piezo-resistance properties, low density, and low in-
vasiveness. Moreover, the design flexibility of continuous carbon fiber
enables the fabrication of embedded sensors through material extrusion
3D printing processes.
In order to monitor resin flow during laminate manufacturing, J
Sánchez del Río and co-workers designed and fabricated a novel 3D-
printed on/off reinforced continuous carbon-fiber sensors on nylon peel-
ply to avoid an ulterior catastrophic failure, as shown in Fig. 19(a) [76].
In addition to the manufacturing process, the loading process of struc-
tural parts still requires health monitoring. In order to effectively moni-
tor local deformation and damage of composite structures, Luan et al. in-
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Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016
Fig. 18. 3D-printed continuous fibers reinforced ther-
moplastic composites with shape morphing ability.
tegrated continuous carbon fiber bundles into polymer substrates to con-
struct smart sensor grids and locate loading position (Fig. 19(b)) [77].
Wang et al. designed a smart continuous carbon fiber-thermoplastic lat-
tice truss sandwich structure in which carbon fiber is adopted as a sens-
ing element to achieve structural self-monitoring of LTSSs using electri-
cal resistance measurement (Fig. 19(c)) [78]. However, in cyclic load-
ing tests, continuous carbon fiber occasionally exhibits reverse piezo-
resistance properties because compressive stress occurs in local areas
and changes fiber contact due to yield force (Fig. 19(d)) [79]. There-
fore, a system that can judge the nonlinear relationship between strain
and resistance change is needed to monitor the health of the structure.
5.4. Electromagnetic wave manipulating structures
Continuous fibers represented by carbon fiber (CF) can also be used
for electromagnetic wave manipulation due to their excellent electrical
conductivity. Complex and designable structures that do not exist in na-
ture can be formed by 3D printing, which expands the functions and ap-
plications of materials. Continuous fibers have a longer conductive path
compared with short fibers, and a structure with good electromagnetic
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016

Fig. 19. (a) 3D-printed on/off reinforced continuous carbon-fiber sensors on nylon peel-ply and its voltage signals drops [76]; (b) Schematic of the designed smart
structure and fabrication sequence and the fractional change in electrical resistance of each continuous carbon fiber tow [77]; (c) Fabricated lattice truss sandwich
structure specimen [78]; (d) Localized yielding area due to shear plastic deformation [79].

Fig. 20. (a) Schematic diagrams of process parameters and CF configurations including filling angle 𝜃, hatch spacing H, and number of layers N [80]; (b) Photograph
of the CF composite shells fabricated by the 3D printing process [80]; (c) Photograph of the measurement facility and measured SE of the hat-like shell [80]; (d)
Composite structure for EM wave absorbing and shielding [81].

interference shielding (EMIS) property can be realized by 3D printed
CFRPCs.
Yin et al. [80] used material extrusion 3D printing process to prepare
composite samples for the measurement of EM wave shielding perfor-
mance, by changing process parameter as shown in Fig. 20(a). The influ-
ences of process parameters on shielding effectiveness (SE) were studied
from three perspectives including filling angle 𝜃, hatch spacing H, and
number of layers N. To demonstrate the process capability for EMIS
structure with complex geometries, a hat-like shell shown in Fig. 20(b)
was fabricated, and the SE was tested with an average value of about
41 dB, as shown in Fig. 20(c). Yin et al. [81] further studied the com-
posite structure of absorbing and shielding metamaterial composed of
two parts (Fig. 20(d)). The upper part was grapheme composite for ab-
sorbing electromagnetic waves, and the lower part was continuous-CF-
reinforced PLA composite to reflect and shield electromagnetic waves.
The designed composite structure has an ultra-wide absorption band-
width of 32 GHz and a SE of larger than 63 dB.
5.5. Mechanical metamaterials
Mechanical metamaterials are artificial structural materials with un-
usual mechanical properties that are rare or non-existent in nature
[82,83]. In recent years, 3D printed CFRPCs have widely expanded the

15
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
Fig. 22. 3D printing in space: (a), (b) pure PLA [92]; (c) continuous carbon fiber reinforced PLA composites; (d) SpiderFab for large structure [93]; (e) 3D printed
CFRCs structure for a drone.
design freedom of mechanical metamaterials, since it can achieve higher
strength without significant mass increase.
3D printed CFRPCs contribute to the obtain abnormal static me-
chanical properties like local bendability [84], negative Poisson’s ratio
[85], energy absorption with shape memory effects [71], and so on, as
shown in Fig. 21. Among them, the local bendability of the solid plate in
Fig. 21(a) was realized by changing the internal designs of the solid and
bendable parts, where the local bendability can be changed by varying
angles and phases of the parallel cross shape. The CFRPC plate was sub-
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Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016
Fig. 21. Metamaterials fabricated by 3D printed
CFRCs: (a) Bending deformation of a 3D printed locally
bendable CFRC plate specimen [84]; (b) 3D-printed
CFRC metamaterials with negative Poisson’s ratio [85];
(c) CFRC honeycomb structures with shape memory
properties [71]; (d) Locally resonant elastic metamate-
rial containing continuous carbon fibers [89]; (e) Sam-
ple of CFRC metamaterial based on inertial amplifica-
tion mechanism [88].
jected to repeated bending tests to demonstrate its durability against de-
formation. Other examples include a metamaterial with excellent shape
memory performance presented in Fig. 21(c), which indicates a possi-
ble route to achieve lightweight intelligent systems and tunable energy
absorbing devices.
Apart from the above-mentioned unusual mechanical properties,
the propagation of elastic waves could also be achieved by 3D-printed
CFRPC metamaterials, which are usually composed of periodically dis-
tributed elements with appropriately designed microstructures. Existing
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
Fig. 23. 3D printing of CFRC bicycle frame: (a) manufacturing process; (b) finial product.
mechanisms to obtain bandgaps include Bragg scattering [86] and lo-
cal resonance [87]. For practical applications, elastic metamaterials are
expected to possess high stiffness and wide bandgap. To satisfy these de-
mands, elastic metamaterials fabricated by 3D printed CFRPCs [88,89],
and containing inertial amplification mechanisms [90,91] have been
proposed. Various related investigations have been carried out. For ex-
ample, Mizukami et al. proposed a series of CFRC elastic metamateri-
als with inertial amplification mechanisms, as shown in Fig. 21(d)‒(e)
[88,89], that could simultaneously improve the stiffness and bandgap
width.
6. Application Cases
6.1. Light-weight composite structure in aeronautics and astronautics
In the industry of aerospace, CFRCs have been widely utilized due to
the high specific strength and stiffness. 3D printing of CFRCs provided
an effective and efficient technology for the fabrication of complicated
composite structures. NASA cooperating with Made In Space [92] com-
pleted the word’s first 3D printing in space experiment and manufac-
tured more than 20 pure PLA samples in the international space sta-
tion in 2014, as shown in Fig. 22(a) and (b). China Academy of Space
Technology in collaboration with Xi’an Jiaotong University, successfully
completed the Chinese first 3D printing experiment in space vehicle
using continuous carbon fiber reinforced PLA composites in 2020, as
shown in Fig. 22(c). For the large structure outside the space station,
NASA [93] proposed a SpiderFab concept that a space robot was used
to build large truss structure with continuous carbon fiber reinforced
PEEK composites, as shown in Fig. 22(d). At ETH Zurich, CMASLab, a
morphing drone were developed and tested by using 3D printed CFRCs.
Solely relying on morphing control surfaces, roll, pitch, and yaw con-
trol was achieved, as shown in Fig. 22(e). However, raw materials and
performance of 3D printed CFRCs must be further promoted in order to
meet the high requirements for aerospace, such as high vacuum, large
temperature difference and strong radiation. Thus, PEEK, PEI as well
as their fiber reinforced composites are more relevant than PLA kind of
materials for such applications in term of thermo-mechanical properties
[94].
6.2. Consumer products
3D printing of CFRPCs have shown great application prospects in
some civil fields such as automobile, sports, etc., which can not only
save the production cost owing to the lack of mould but also reduce
energy consumption owing to the light weight. A typical and mature
application case is bicycle frame by Arevo Company. Traditional bicy-
cle frames were made from hundreds of pieces which were produced
separately followed by gluing and bolting together. On the contrary,
continuous fiber reinforced composite monocoque bicycle frames were
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Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016
fabricated by simple 3D printing process [95], as shown in Fig. 23. More-
over, the flexibility of 3D printing technology allows bicycle frames to
be customized according to rider’s height, weight, and habit.
6.3. Industrial fixture and tooling
Fixture and tooling have been an important application direction
of 3D printing in industrial field because of the advantages of low
cost, quick response, and flexible manufacturing. However, most of 3D
printed thermoplastic polymers or short fiber reinforced composites suf-
fer from relatively low mechanical properties so that they can only be
applied to fabricate some prototype components. 3D printing of CFRPCs
have equivalent strength to that of machined aluminum and can be di-
rectly used as final parts [96]. In addition, 3D printed CFRPCs are lighter
and will not damage the surface of workpiece. Dixon Valve company fab-
ricated a robot end effector fixture by continuous fiber 3D printer from
Markforged, and the cost was reduced by 96.8% and the production time
was shortened by 87% than CNC machining, as shown in Fig. 24(a). GE
company utilized the same way to produce a nozzle detection fixture,
as shown in Fig. 24(b).
7. Future Perspectives
7.1. Fully recyclable green composites
Fiber reinforced polymer composites were widely used in aerospace,
automobiles, wind energy, and sports products due to the high specific
strength. With dramatically increasing usage, recyclability of compos-
ites is becoming a critical limitation to the industrial application. Espe-
cially, carbon fiber reinforced composites, the most widely used compos-
ites, have not yet been properly recycled probably due to their inherent
heterogeneous nature of matrix and the reinforcement, leading to poor
materials recyclability, in particular for thermosetting composites.
Based on 3D printing of CFRPCs, a cleaner production pattern
for high-performance continuous carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic
composites has been proposed on the base of recycling and remanufac-
turing of 3D printed PLA composites, as shown in Fig. 25(a) [97]. Con-
tinuous carbon fiber and PLA matrix was recycled in the form of PLA
impregnated carbon fiber filament from 3D printed composite compo-
nents and reused as the raw material for further 3D printing process. The
original printing trajectory is reversely applied, allowing for a 100% re-
cycling of the continuous fiber without any effect on the mechanical
properties. Meanwhile, polymer fiber and natural fiber were also uti-
lized by 3D printing process in order to achieve a sustainable production
pattern. By using polymer fibers, such as ultra-high-molecular-weight
polyethylene (UHMWPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) could be
reinforced in the 3D printing process to realize a self-reinforced com-
posites, which can be fully recycled into a filament with a mixture of
UHMWPE and HDPE and reused for the further 3D printing process, as
shown in Fig. 25(b) [13]. Furthermore, by using liquid crystal polymer
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
and spin-printing process, all fiber liquid polymer composites have been
achieved and could also be recycled into filament as raw materials for
next printing cycle, as shown in Fig. 25(c) [98].
In the future, recyclable or green raw materials and innovative 3D
printing process should be utilized to achieve green composites for sus-
tainable industrial applications.
7.2. AM of smart composites and smart AM
We are living in a nature, which is composed of all kinds of compos-
ites. Nature fabricated biological systems using natural composites in an
effective pattern by evolution, which provides multifunction integration
and intellectualization. Biological systems that tightly integrate sensing,
actuation, computation, and communication and the engineering appli-
cations that could be enabled by using composite materials that take
advantage of similar principles [99]. 3D printing of CFRPCs provide a
useful tool to realize the fabrication of cross-scale composite structure.
The initial purpose of 3D printed CFRPCs was to improve the static me-
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Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering: Additive Manufacturing Frontiers 1 (2022) 100016
Fig. 24. 3D printing of CFRC fixture and tooling
[96]: (a) robot end effector fixture; (b) detection
fixture.
Fig. 25. Fully recyclable composites: (a) a four
“Re”s cleaner production pattern for CFRTPCs
[97]; (b) recycling-loop for self-reinforced com-
posites [13]; (c) 3D printing of all fiber liquid
crystal polymer composites [98].
chanical performance of a light-weight structure, which could be further
improved by using raw materials with higher performance and optimiz-
ing the multiple interfaces and structures. Meanwhile, the booming re-
search work has greatly extended its application field in multi-materials,
which are elaborated with versatile smart functions, such as sensing, ac-
tuating, computing, communicating and so on, as shown in Fig. 26. With
the persistent efforts being devoted by worldwide researchers, the scope
of CFRPCs is far beyond 3D printing, it aims at a fusion of multi-fields
and an n-dimensional (nD) printing. Meanwhile, smart AM process and
equipment should be developed to achieve automatic and autonomous
fabrication of advanced composite or multi-material structure. Various
sensors and actuators could be embedded into the 3D printing equip-
ment to realize in-situ process detecting and close-loop control.
Tremendous challenges are still faced, such as how to bridge the
gap between fabrication requirement of innovative structure design and
fabrication capability of future 3D printing process, which need much
more interdisciplinary researches covering the advanced materials, pro-
cess and equipment, structural design, and final smart performance.
X. Tian, A. Todoroki, T. Liu et al.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by National Key R&D Program of China
(Grant No. 2018YFE0207900), National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant No. 52075422), K C Wong Education Foundation, and The
Youth Innovation Team of Shaanxi Universities.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Xiaoyong Tian: Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing; Akira
Todoroki: Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing; Tengfei Liu:
Writing – review & editing; Lingling Wu: Writing – review & editing;
Zhanghao Hou: Writing – review & editing; Masahiro Ueda: Writing –
review & editing; Yoshiyasu Hirano: Writing – review & editing; Ryosuke
Matsuzaki: Writing – review & editing; Koichi Mizukami: Writing – re-
view & editing; Keisuke Iizuka: Writing – review & editing; Andrei V.
Malakhov: Writing – review & editing; Alexander N. Polilov: Writing –
review & editing; Dichen Li: Resources, Funding acquisition, Review &
editing; Bingheng Lu: Review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
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