Advanced Additive Manufacturing Infrastructure: Towards Sustainable and Adaptive Manufacturing of More Complex and Continuous Fiber-Reinforced Composites

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The paradigm shift from conventional to more sustainable and adaptive manufacturing practices has led to an actively growing focus on additive manufacturing (AM) and fiber-reinforced polymer composites (FRPC) for lightweight and multifunctional structures. The conjunction of these two areas face challenges with part quality and design integrity, despite the recognized potential and scale of their applications to various industries and structures. Currently, the Advanced Research Laboratory for Multifunctional Lightweight Structures (ARL-MLS) research team uses conventional 3D printers to study homogeneous, short-fiber-infused, and nanoparticle-infused filament systems. To address the limitations of existing AM-FRPC solutions and actualize the next generation of functional parts, it is critical to expand the current capabilities of the ARL-MLS facilities to enable and support the intricate melting, multi-material, and multi-physics nature of more complex FRPCs and continuous FRPCs. The proposed 3D printing infrastructure will provide the ARL-MLS group the critical capabilities to print high-level functional and diverse parts at the production grade with continuous fibers and other complex composite materials. The proposed 3D printing system will provide the necessary infrastructure to develop novel methods for characterization of complex and continuous FRPCs, investigating the self-sensing mechanisms for health monitoring of structural and active material parts, and the integration of in-situ process monitoring technologies. The proposed equipment will expand the current facilities at the ARL-MLS with the essential capabilities and infrastructure to support and enable the current and future research activities involving the characterization, modelling, and testing of advanced smart structures, and the development of intelligent tools for design, quality control, and health monitoring. The development and progress of these research activities will be leveraged towards enhancing the reliability, versality, and performance of the 3D/4D printing process, which will benefit and promote growth across Canada and many industries environmentally and economically through improved sustainability and manufacturing practices.