3D-Printed Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites: A Systematic Review

Fiber reinforced composites offer exceptional directional mechanical properties, and combining their advantages with the capability of 3D printing has resulted in many innovative research fronts. This review aims to summarize the methods and findings of research conducted on 3D-printed carbon fiber reinforced composites. The review is focused on commercially available printers and filaments, as their results are reproducible and the findings can be applied to functional parts. As the process parameters can be readily changed in preparation of a 3D-printed part, it has been the focus of many studies. In addition to typical composite driving factors such as fiber orientation, fiber volume fraction and stacking sequence, printing parameters such as infill density, infill pattern, nozzle speed, layer thickness, built orientation, nozzle and bed temperatures have shown to influence mechanical properties. Due to the unique advantages of 3D printing, in addition to conventional unidirectional fiber orientation, concentric fiber rings have been used to optimize the mechanical performance of a part. This review surveys the literature in 3D printing of chopped and continuous carbon fiber composites to provide a reference for the state-of-the-art efforts, existing limitations and new research frontiers.