Tribological Behavior of Surface Textured Short Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Nylon Composites Fabricated by Three-Dimensional Printing Techniques

Abstract

In this paper, short carbon fiber-reinforced nylon (SCFRN) composites were fabricated using the fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology. In particular, different surface textures, namely convex squares and triangles, were created by using the printing method. It was found that fiber reinforcements could effectively enhance the load-carry capacity of the printed polymeric materials. Moreover, the tribological performance of SCFRN can be further improved with the surface textures. Microscopy observations revealed that the surface textures are particularly beneficial for the wear reduction by collecting hard wear debris such as broken fibers. The work has demonstrated that 3D printing technology has great potential for developing new wear-resistant engineering materials by controlling and creating desirable compositions and geometric structures/textures simultaneously.