Fiber Line Optimization in Single Ply for 3D Printed Composites

Abstract

In conventional manufacturing processes of composites, Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) laminates have been made by stacking unidirectional or woven prepreg sheets. Recently, as a manufacturing process of CFRP, 3D printing of CFRP composites has been developed. The 3D printing process of CFRP composites enables us to fabricate CFRP laminates with arbitrary curvilinear fibre plies. This indicates that the optimization of the in-plane curved carbon fibre placement in a planar ply is strongly required to realize superior 3D printed composites. In the present paper, in-plane curved carbon fibre alignment of a ply with an open hole is optimized in terms of maximization of the fracture strength. For the optimization process, a genetic algorithm is adopted. To describe curved carbon fibre alignments in a planar ply, stream lines of perfect flow is employed. By using the stream lines of the perfect flow, number of optimization parameters is significantly reduced. After the optimization, the fracture strength of CFRP laminate is compared with the results of unidirectional CFRP ply. The curved fibre placement in a planar ply shows superior fracture improvement.