Investigating Mechanical Properties of Fabricated Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Composites via LCD Additive Manufacturing

Stereolithography (SLA) additive manufacturing is a method of manufacturing capable of generating complex geometric shapes with extremely high accuracy. Classic SLA uses UV curable resins, particularly polylactic acid (PLA), for part generation, but recent research has focused on utilizing this technology for the generation of various composite materials. There has been success in manufacturing composite materials using this technology, but little research has been performed on the generation of carbon-fiber-reinforced composite materials. Carbon fiber stereolithography (CF-SLA) is often overlooked due to carbon fiber’s natural inability to bond with PLA. To overcome this boundary, surface modification techniques were used on chopped carbon fibers to achieve greater bonding. Here, two modification techniques were explored: a sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant addition and nitric acid (HNO₃) etching. These methods were used to functionalize and prepare the surface of chopped carbon fiber (CF) for bonding with cured PLA resin. Treated fibers were dispersed in generic PLA resin, and tensile test specimens were printed for examining the reinforcement potential of the two treatment methods. Additional complexities arise during printing with fibers including fiber alignment, accumulation, and fiber fallout. To address these issues, a novel in-process mixing method was developed to maintain fiber dispersion. A two-level three-factor factorial design was performed for both treatment methods to determine optimal printing parameters. Through mechanical testing, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and contact angle measurements, the accompanying material property changes were characterized to further develop the field of fiber-reinforced liquid crystal display (LCD) additive manufacturing. After testing, it was found that composites created with SDS nanoparticle modification were stronger than both the acid etched fiber sample and plain PLA. Specifically, SDS surface treatment resulted in a 15% increase in modulus and maximum strength of the sample, mainly by enhancing the interlayer bonding between CF and PLA.