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Coupling design and fabrication of continuous carbon fiber-reinforced composite structures using two-material topology optimization and additive manufacturing

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Abstract

This study presents an integration of the level set-based two-material topology optimization method and the additive manufacturing technique for the design and fabrication of continuous carbon fiber (CCF)-reinforced composite structures. Firstly, optimal configurations of the resin material and fiber reinforcement are obtained to maximize the structural stiffness under desired volume constraints using the two-material topological optimization. After that, the level set-based cutting mesh method and triangulation scheme are employed to interpret these topological designs into stereolithography (STL) models with clear structural boundaries for the manufacturing. A customized pre-processing strategy is used to accurately determine the fiber placement regions from the optimal designs. Topological results are then fabricated using the CCF-based 3D printing method with prepreg carbon fibers. Subsequently, the performance of printed CCF-reinforced composite structures is investigated, using different resin materials: polylactic acid (PLA) and polyamide 12 with 10% carbon fiber (PA12_10CF). Experimental results indicate a significant increase in stiffness and strength of composite structures with fiber reinforcements for all resin materials, with an increase of 315% for PLA and 234% for PA12_10CF. Additionally, the CCF-reinforced composite structures made of PA12_10CF exhibit superior stiffness compared to those made of PLA with a double increment. The microstructural characteristics of damaged regions are examined using scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, which provide valuable insights into the behavior of resin and fiber materials.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would also like to express their thanks to Thai Nguyen University of Technology and the Sharetech Co., Ltd for supporting us to carry out our experiments.

Funding

This research was funded by the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training, grant number B2022-TNA-27.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Civil Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City Open University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Thuan N.-T. Ho

  2. Laboratory for Computational Mechanics, Institute for Computational Science and Artificial Intelligence, Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Son H. Nguyen

  3. Faculty of Mechanical - Electrical and Computer Engineering, School of Technology, Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Son H. Nguyen

  4. Advanced Technology Center, Le Quy Don Technical University, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Van Thao Le

  5. Research Development Institute of Advanced Industrial Technologies (RIAT), Thai Nguyen University of Technology, Thai Nguyen City, Vietnam

    Tien-Dat Hoang

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  1. Thuan N.-T. Ho
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  2. Son H. Nguyen
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  4. Tien-Dat Hoang
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Contributions

Thuan N.-T. Ho: methodology, software, verification, investigation, computations, writing — original draft, writing — review and editing. Son H. Nguyen: resources, supervision, writing — review and editing. Van Thao Le: resources, writing — review and editing, visualization. Tien-Dat Hoang: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, resources, supervision, writing — review and editing, funding acquisition, project administration.

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Correspondence to Tien-Dat Hoang.

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Ho, T.NT., Nguyen, S.H., Le, V.T. et al. Coupling design and fabrication of continuous carbon fiber-reinforced composite structures using two-material topology optimization and additive manufacturing. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 130, 4277–4293 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-023-12913-w

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