Fiber-reinforced polymer composites (FRPCs) have emerged as key players across the aerospace, automotive and biomedical engineering industries as lightweight and resilient advanced materials.
These industries demand high-strength, lightweight materials that can withstand substantial forces, whether in the wings of aircraft or the joints of a prosthetic limb. FPRCs, often crafted via 3D printing, offer impressive strength-to-weight ratios but are prone to weaknesses in fracture toughness due to the layered nature of additive manufacturing. However, recent research highlights significant advancements in fracture toughness, which promises to broaden the use of FRPCs across high-stakes industrial applications.
A team of researchers from Khalifa University, including Dr. Tayyab Khan, Dr. Murad Ali, Prof. Haider Butt, Prof. Rashid Abu Al-Rub, and Prof. Rehan Umer, collaborated with Zakia Riaz, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, and Yu Dong, Curtin University, Australia, to optimize 3D printing techniques for FRPCs. The team published their review in Composites Part B, a top 1% journal.
“FPRCs are manufactured by embedding fibers like carbon, glass, or even natural fibers into a polymer matrix,” Prof. Umer said. “This combination enhances mechanical properties such as tensile strength, flexibility, and fatigue resistance, creating materials suited for extreme conditions.
Additive manufacturing allows them to be produced with lower waste and less expense, but 3D-printed FRPCs have historically been limited by weaknesses at their internal layer boundaries, which make them prone to delamination and cracking under stress.”