Heating of additively manufactured polymer composite materials under ultrasonic exposure

Abstract

The influence of ultrasonic vibrations of the tooling on the heating kinetics of polymer composite materials (PCM), fabricated by the FDM technology from the filaments reinforced with continuous carbon fibers and single-component polymers used as binders, is studied. The ultrasonic frequency is shown to considerably affect the temperature of a sample in the region of its contact with the tool. It is noted that in the case of a high-performance engineering thermoplastic material—PEEK—used as a binder, an increase in the vibration frequency exerts a stronger influence on the temperature value. The time of exposure to ultrasound has a stronger impact at higher frequencies (in the studied range). A twofold increase of the vibration frequency, the other factors being similar, provides a 6.0–30.9% increase of the PCM heating temperature and an 8–71% increase of the polymer heating temperature, depending on the binder material.