The Micro–Macro Interlaminar Properties of Continuous Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polyphenylene Sulfide Laminates Made by Thermocompression to Simulate the Consolidation Process in FDM

Three-dimensional (3D) printing of continuous fiber-reinforced composites has been developed in recent decades as an alternative means to handle complex structures with excellent design flexibility and without mold forming. Although 3D printing has been increasingly used in the manufacturing industry, there is still room for the development of theories about how the process parameters affect microstructural properties to meet the mechanical requirements of the printed parts. In this paper, we investigated continuous carbon fiber-reinforced polyphenylene sulfide (CCF/PPS) as feedstock for fused deposition modeling (FDM) simulated by thermocompression. This study revealed that the samples manufactured using a layer-by-layer process have a high tensile strength up to 2041.29 MPa, which is improved by 68.8% compared with those prepared by the once-stacked method. Moreover, the mechanical–microstructure characterization relationships indicated that the compactness of the laminates is higher when the stacked CCF/PPS are separated, which can be explained based on both the void formation and the nanoindentation results. These reinforcements confirm the potential of remodeling the layer-up methods for the development of high-performance carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastics. This study is of great significance to the improvement of the FDM process and opens broad prospects for the aerospace industry and continuous fiber-reinforced polymer matrix materials.