Modeling of glass-fiber-reinforced 3D-printed filaments using micro-computed tomography data

The use of 3D printing technology for composites has gained increased attention due to their high mechanical properties and their rapid manufacturing. However, accurately predicting the mechanical response of the 3D-printed composite parts remains challenging due to their complex internal morphology. In this article, a hybrid methodology is presented for the direct modeling of 3D-printed composites of polylactic acid (PA) reinforced with continuous glass fibers. The methodology includes micro-computed tomography images to visualize the fibers and create ideal models using analytical effective field methods (EFMs). The EFMs are used to predict the effective elastic properties of the composite, which compared with experimental results and demonstrate a great agreement.