MORE | Summer 2022

Short and Aligned Fiber Filament for 3D-Printed, High-Performance Composites

Oriented-fiber reinforced composites had played a major role in the application of high-performance materials and the demand for them is growing. But there are still challenges in designing a method for uniform short, oriented fiber reinforcement in composites. This research will focus on leveraging additive manufacturing potential in terms of speed and precision to produce composite prepregs of aligned short fiber reinforcement composites. Fiber alignment will be induced via shear forces during the extrusion processes. A technique for producing uniformly dispersed and aligned short fiber reinforcement composites would enable the development of more advanced and flexible composites parts fabrication.