Influence of Rapid Consolidation on Co-Extruded Additively Manufactured Composites

Composite filament co-extrusion (CFC) additive manufacturing (AM) is a bi-matrix rapid fabrication technique that is used to produce highly customisable composite parts. By this method,pre-cured, thermoset-based composite carbon fibre (CCF) is simultaneously extruded along with thermoplastic (TP) binding melt as the matrix. Like additive manufacturing, CFC technology also has inherent challenges which include voids, defects and a reduction in CCF’s volume in the fabricated parts. Nevertheless, CFC AM is an emerging composite processing technology, a highly customisable and user-oriented manufacturing unit. A new TP-based composites processing technique has the potential to be synergised with conventional processing techniques such as injection moulding to produce lightweight composite parts. The main objective of this research is to investigate and reduce internal voids and defects by utilising compression pressing as a rapid consolidation post-processing technique.