Additive Manufacturing Technology

Additive Manufacturing Technology

3D Printing of Angle-Ply Multilayered Continuous Fiber-Reinforced Composite Tubes

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Faculty of New Technologies and Aerospace Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
One of the significant challenges in the 3D printing of multilayered cylindrical composite parts with different angle plies, such as tubes, lies in the limitations in controlling the layering angle and the orientation of reinforcing fibers. In this study, with the aim of producing composite tubes with various layup configurations, a novel method is proposed in which a fourth rotational axis is added to a fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer to enable the adjustment and precise control of the layering angle during the printing process. Following the design and implementation of the rotational axis to the FDM 3D printer, tubes with a length of 120 mm and an internal diameter of 60 mm were fabricated using PLA matrix and continuous glass fiber reinforcement. The tubes were printed with two layups of [+45, -45]3 and [+55, -55]3. The specimens were then subjected to quasi-static axial compression loading. The loading was applied at three levels: 1) loading until the initial failure, 2) loading until a semi-compressed state (30 mm compressive displacement), and 3) loading until full compression (100 mm compressive displacement). The results did not show a significant difference in the ultimate strength of the tubes, while the stiffness of the [+55, -55]3 tubes was 65% higher than that of [+45, -45]3 tubes.
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Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 13 July 2026