Fused Deposition Modeling of Fiber-Reinforced

Thermoplastic Polymers: Past Progress and Future

Needs
B. BRENKEN1, A. FAVALORO1, E. BAROCIO2, N. M. DENARDO2, V. KUNC3
and R. B. PIPES4

ABSTRACT

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is one of the most common Additive

Manufacturing (AM) techniques for polymeric materials. To improve mechanical
properties of the printed parts and improve their dimensional stability, often fibers are
added as a reinforcement.
This paper provides a thorough review of past work on the FDM process with fiber-
reinforced polymers. Mechanical properties published in the previous work are
summarized. Here, it is differentiated between data of discontinuous fiber-reinforced
materials both parallel to the bead direction and transverse to it. Furthermore, available
data parallel to the print direction for continuous fiber-reinforced material systems are
shown.
Next, past modeling work of the FDM method and its related physical phenomena
are reviewed and discussed, yet with a special emphasis on FDM with fiber-reinforced
polymers. However, due to a lack of published work, promising studies modeling neat
polymer behavior are reviewed as well as they can act as initial points for future work.
The findings are structured and reported based on these four different research areas of
FDM: material flow and fiber orientation, interface formation, thermomechanical
analysis of the deposited material and mechanical characterization of printed parts.
Finally, this paper provides a detailed review of the FDM method with fiber-
reinforced materials and it explains relevant physical phenomena involved in the
process as well as their couplings. Based on the review, the current status of the research
is evaluated, future needs are formulated and suggestions for ongoing research are
given.

_____________
1. School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University, Indiana Manufacturing Institute,
1105 Challenger Avenue, Suite 100, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA
2. School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, Indiana Manufacturing Institute, 1105
Challenger Avenue, Suite 100, West Lafayette, IN 47906, USA
3. Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1 Bethel Valley Rd,
Oak Ridge, TN 37830, USA
4. School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Materials Engineering and Chemical Engineering,
Purdue University, Indiana Manufacturing Institute, 1105 Challenger Avenue, Suite 100, West
Lafayette, IN 47906, USA
INTRODUCTION

During the last twenty years, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) has evolved from
a rapid prototyping technique to a potential manufacturing method for parts and tooling.
This development was mainly driven by the significant cost savings FDM can offer in
contrast to classical subtractive manufacturing methods. FDM, which is also called
Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), is one of the most rapidly growing Additive
Manufacturing (AM) techniques. In its extrusion based process, feedstock material in
either pellet or filament form is molten and deposited on a printing bed. By following a
predefined machine path, the printer controls the history of deposition and a part is built
layer by layer. With the optional use of support material, complex geometries can be
generated.
In the last several years, significant technical advancements in FDM have been
achieved. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) collaborated with Cincinnati
Incorporated to develop the Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) system, a
large scale FDM printer. This system is now commercially available [1]. In a
collaboration with Local Motors Inc., a vehicle was designed and live-printed in less
than two days at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago
in 2014 [2]. Other companies like Thermwood focus on the development of large scale
FDM Additive Manufacturing as well [3]. The extension to the large scale is possible
by the addition of discontinuous fibers, which prevent warpage and provide dimensional
stability during the printing process [4]. Among these significant improvements in scale,
advancements have also been made regarding the processability of advanced materials.
To improve strength and stiffness of printed parts, Markforged developed the first
commercially available continuous fiber printer [5].
In contrast to these technical advancements, the scientific analysis of FDM and its
outcomes is just beginning. To date, scientific studies mostly encompass the mechanical
characterization of printed samples made from composite material. Tensile tests are
used to determine mechanical properties (modulus and strength) both parallel and
transverse to the extrudate bead direction. This paper summarizes these results found in
the literature. The focus herein is solely on FDM with fiber-reinforced materials.
Furthermore, a review with emphasis on these materials is presented regarding the
modeling work that has been accomplished in FDM. General reviews on AM [6], FDM
and related extrusion processes without focus on composite materials [7, 8], and on
general AM techniques for printing composite materials [9] are cited here and can be
found elsewhere.
The structure of this paper is as follows: The first section Material Characterization
provides an overview of the different composite material systems that were processed
with FDM and it summarizes mechanical results of materials and samples that were
printed. In the next section Modeling Work, studies with focus on simulating the FDM
process and related phenomena are reviewed. Due to a lack of work related to
composites materials, interesting and promising work for neat polymers is also
mentioned, as well as supporting experimental studies. The third section Future Needs
points out the current problems and needs in FDM by explaining the various physical
phenomena and their interactions occurring in the FDM process. Finally the paper
concludes with final remarks on the current state of research and desirable future
objectives for the research community.
MATERIAL CHARACTERIZATION

A majority of work published in FDM with composite materials focuses on the

material characterization of the polymeric reinforced material systems. Here, usually
both the general processability of the material related to FDM and the resulting
mechanical data are interesting. Among other aspects, the studies often start by
describing the development of the reinforced materials and conclude by comparing
tensile test data of both the reinforced and unreinforced plastics. Various fibrous
material reinforcements have been investigated. These include short fibers [4, 10-18],
fibrils [19, 20], nanofibers [21, 22], carbon fillers [23] and continuous fibers [24-26].
The majority of these references use a thermoplastic matrix material such as Nylon,
PLA, PPS or ABS. Compton and Lewis [16] however utilized a modified, filled epoxy
resin as printing material. In the case of Leigh et al. [23], the focus was on electrical
properties for printing sensors instead of the usual mechanical characterization.
Describing the listed references in full detail would go beyond the scope of this
paper. Instead, the results of the tensile tests are presented to give an overview of the
general performance of fiber-reinforced FDM at its current stage. However, the reader
has to keep in mind that not just the various material systems have a significant impact
on the resulting properties, but also the processing conditions and printing parameters.
Therefore, for a more in-depth analysis of the results and the investigation of specific
differences, the references should be consulted.
Figure 1 depicts mechanical results for the discontinuous fiber reinforced material
systems. Plotted is stiffness over strength for tensile test results parallel to the printing
direction. A 50 wt.% carbon fiber (CF) reinforced PPS [17] yielded the highest stiffness
of 26.4 GPa. The largest strength value of 125.3 MPa was found for an Ultem material
with 4.7 wt.% carbon nanotubes (CNT) [22]. During the FDM process, the fibers mostly
align along the printing direction due to the shearing flow of the material [10]. Thus, the
direction parallel to the deposited beads is the direction where the printed composites
develop their maximum mechanical properties. Despite this fact, the presented
mechanical properties in Figure 1 cannot reach typical data of aircraft aluminum [27].
Both the strength and stiffness values are significantly lower. Advancements in
retaining fiber length and minimizing voids between the beads should be targeted in
order to improve the mechanical properties.
 Figure 1. Summary of the tensile test data for discontinuous fiber systems parallel to printed beads [4,
10, 12-14, 16-18, 21, 22]. For data marked with a star (*), the values were extracted graphically.

Figure 2 summarizes the mechanical results transverse to the bead direction (height
direction) for the discontinuous fiber-reinforced material systems. It is evident that
values for the thermoplastic matrix systems are significantly lower compared to those
parallel to the bead direction. The highest combined stiffness and strength is provided
by an Epoxy reinforced with SiC whiskers and 10 wt.% CF [16]. Transverse to the
beads, the interface between the beads governs the mechanical behavior. This explains
why both PPS and ABS with very different fiber contents achieve similar mechanical
values. Past work regarding the formation of the interface and its strength will be
reviewed in the next section.
Finally, available results for FDM-printed specimens with continuous fiber
reinforcements are shown in Figure 3. Limited data is available for continuous
reinforcements. The values from Matsuzaki et al. [24] characterize a self-developed
printing head while the data of van der Klift et al. [26] was generated using the Mark
One printer [5]. The results show a wide range of values. As it can be seen, the
specimens with 20.7 vol.% of CF exceed the typical strength of aluminum with an
average strength of 464.6 MPa. However, their stiffness (35.7 GPa) is just about half of
the value of aluminum [26, 27]. Compared to that, the jute fiber-reinforced samples just
reach mechanical values on the order of the discontinuous material systems. For an
overall improvement in properties, emphasis has to be put on increasing the fiber
volume fraction. Koga et al. [25] discuss the current limitations of printing with the
Mark One printer and present solution approaches.
 Summary of tensile test data for discontinuous fiber systems transverse to printed beads
9

3 ABS/CF 13%, Love et al.[4]

ABS/CF 20 wt.%, Hill et al.[13]
ABS/CF 20 wt.%, Duty et al.[14]
2 ABS/GF 20 wt.%, Duty et al.[14]
ABS/CF 13%, Kunc[18](*)
Epoxy/SiC/CF 10 wt.%, Compton & Lewis[16]
1 PPS/CF 50 wt.%, DeNardo[17]

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Strength in MPa

Figure 2. Summary of the tensile test data for discontinuous fiber systems transverse to printed beads [4,
13, 14, 16-18]. For data marked with a star (*), the values were extracted graphically.
Stiffness in GPa

Figure 3. Summary of the tensile test data for continuous fiber systems parallel to the print direction [24,
26]. For data marked with a star (*), the values were extracted graphically. For the values labeled with
two stars (**), the volume fraction was estimated based on information in the paper.
MODELING WORK

The main intention of this paper is to review and summarize relevant work regarding
the simulation of the FDM process utilizing composite materials. Since there are many
different physical phenomena present and important for FDM, this section is further
divided in subsections to differentiate between the relevant physics. In contrast to the
previous section where the focus was on the presentation of the mechanical data,
previous work is introduced in more detail and their results are presented in this section.

Material Flow and Fiber Orientation

Published work regarding the flow of a fiber reinforced material through a die and
the resulting fiber orientation in a FDM process is quite limited. Nevertheless, the fiber
orientation influences the final part properties significantly. Only two studies could be
found focusing on the flow of the material and the resulting fiber orientation in the die
and its vicinity.
Nixon et al. [28] utilized Moldflow and the implemented Folgar-Tucker model to
investigate the fiber orientation for different nozzle geometries. A convergent, straight
and a divergent nozzle were investigated. Furthermore, different volumetric ejection
rates and fiber volume fractions of an Ultem/CF material were considered. In the
simulations, the material was injected into an open cavity and fiber orientation was
considered up to the nozzle outlet. For all nozzle designs, there was a strong fiber
alignment with the flow at the end of the liquefier and at the inlet of the nozzle due to
the increasing shear rates in these areas. As expected, the overall fiber alignment in the
nozzles was highest for the convergent nozzle and lowest for divergent nozzle. The fiber
alignment increased with higher fiber loadings. In the straight nozzle and the straight
outlet of the converging nozzle, the authors found a higher fiber alignment with the flow
in the center of the nozzles compared to the areas near the walls. This is in disagreement
with experimental data shown by Kunc [18], where the highest fiber alignment in bead
direction was found at the outer walls of an extruded bead. In general, Nixon et al. [28]
showed the fiber orientation based on the flow of the material without illustrating the
corresponding flow fields. Furthermore, free boundary effects after the nozzle exit were
not modeled.
Heller et al. [29] also investigated the fiber orientation in a converging FDM die. In
addition, they considered the immediate region after the outlet as well. Consequently,
die swell after the outlet was taken into account. COMSOL was used to compute the
velocities and velocity gradients based on a Newtonian fluid assumption with a single
density and viscosity in a creeping flow in the nozzle. This velocity information was
then used to compute the fiber orientation based on the Advani and Tucker formulation
using the Fast Exact Closure. A strong fiber alignment in the flow direction could be
found at the end of the convergence zone in the die. The die swell after the nozzle exit
decreased the fiber orientation in the extrusion direction. The findings in the described
paper resulted from an uncoupled flow and fiber orientation analysis. Since the flow
was modeled with data of neat ABS, no effect of fibers on the velocity field could be
analyzed. Although the results make sense qualitatively, a coupled analysis should be
targeted.
Interface Formation

The importance of the interface between extruded beads is apparent. As already

mentioned in the previous section, the interface determines the mechanical properties
transverse to the extruded beads. Since the directions transverse to the bead direction
are the weak directions of printed parts, interface formation should be well understood.
The modeling work presented in this subsection was developed for neat polymers. To
the best knowledge of the authors, no work modeling of the interface formation for a
fiber-reinforced material system has been published yet.
Thomas and Rodriguez [30] were one of the first to analyze the fracture strength
between extruded beads. They developed a two dimensional analytical heat transfer
model to obtain thermal histories at the bead-to-bead interface. Based on the
temperature predictions, they modeled the fracture strength using reptation theory for
describing the interdiffusion of long-chain polymer molecules. The authors found that
most of the fracture strength is developed during the initial wetting stage. Furthermore,
slower cooling rates helped to obtain larger strength values.
Bellehumeur et al. [31] combined a 1D heat transfer model with a Newtonian
polymer sintering model to simulate the neck growth evolution of neighboring ABS
beads. This modeling data was supported by obtaining temperature profiles of extruded
beads and by the completion of sintering experiments. Controlling the cooling history
was found to be crucial for the neck growth. The necking mainly happened above a
critical sintering temperature, so slower cooling rates promoted a larger interface. In
contrast to the model introduced by Thomas and Rodriguez [30], the sintering model
did not account for molecular diffusion and just described the wetting process.
Consequently, the model was just indicative of the bond strength.
In a subsequent study, Sun et al. [32] investigated the effects of the temperature
history on the bond quality of FDM parts. Based on experimental data, the sintering
phenomenon was confirmed to be significant for bond formation above a critical
temperature. The authors summarized that the current heat transfer models were
inadequate and recommended to consider creep deformation and molecular diffusion
for predicting the bond strength.
An interesting experimental study that could aid the development of an interface
formation model for composite materials was just published by Kishore et al. [33].
Based on an assumed enhanced bonding due to thermal fusion and polymer
interdiffusion above the glass transition temperature , the effect of infrared preheating
of previously printed layers on the fracture energy was investigated for fiber reinforced
ABS. Results showed both increases and reductions of fracture energy, based on
different heating settings. The findings confirm that longer periods of time at
temperatures above caused by preheating can help to significantly increase the bond
strength, while degradation of the polymer should be avoided. Consequently, the
cooling history was again found to be crucial to the interface formation.

Thermomechanical Modeling

In order to describe the consolidation phase of the material after deposition and
related phenomena like modulus development, crystallization (for semi-crystalline
polymers), deformation/warpage of the parts and resulting residual stresses, knowledge
of the thermal history is essential. This subsection presents work related to the
thermomechanical analysis of the deposited material. As for the last subsection, if not
mentioned otherwise, the studies were initially developed for neat polymers.
Nevertheless, an extension to describe composite materials should be feasible.
Yardimci and Gceri [34] were among the first to describe the cooling problem in
FDM and to outline the complexity of the problem. Based on a 1D heat transfer
formulation, results regarding the bonding potential of beads were discussed. In a
subsequent work [35], the thermal model was extended to a quasi-steady state 2D
model. Utilizing Finite Volume Method, effects of different Peclet and Biot numbers on
the temperature distribution were analyzed for a multi-layer geometry.
In the papers introduced in the last subsection, heat transfer models were developed
as well. These models are introduced in more detail here. For their bond strength
predictions, Thomas and Rodriguez [30] developed an analytical 2D heat transfer model
based on rectangular bead cross sections for a single bead wall. Bellehumeur et al. [31]
utilized a 1D lumped capacity thermal model for their sintering analyses. Assuming a
constant temperature across an elliptical cross section, they were able to reduce the
dimensionality to one, where the print direction was the direction of interest. Sun et al.
[32] compared the two heat transfer models with experimental data and found that the
lumped capacity model yielded a better agreement at higher temperatures after
deposition, whereas the 2D model followed the experimental data closer at lower
temperatures. While these two models are suited to analyze bond formation, more
complex numerical models are needed in order to describe the overall cool down of a
deposited printed part.
In his PhD thesis work, Rodriguez [36] employed finite element (FE) method for a
2D transient heat transfer analysis. Five elliptical cross sections stacked on top of each
other were investigated, based on a constant heat convection coefficient and neglecting
the thermal resistance between adjacent beads.
Zhang and Chou [37] were one of the first to link a full three dimensional heat
transfer model to a deformation and stress analysis based on thermoelastic deformation
for an ABS polymer material. The FEA software ANSYS was used to simulate the
printing process. During the analysis, the elements were activated in a stepwise process
to model the material deposition. Upon activation, an analysis started for each element
with the current temperature distribution as initial condition. In this way, the authors
were able to model stress accumulations and part distortions based on different printing
patterns for a simple three-dimensional part. In a subsequent study [38], the same
authors used the developed coupled thermomechanical model to investigate the effects
of the parameters print speed, bead width, layer thickness and their interactions on
residual stresses. They found that the printing speed was most significant for the stress
state. Furthermore, they compared the modeled distortion to a printed part and observed
a similar trend for the behavior based on different bead widths and layer thicknesses.
In a pioneering work, Talagani et al. [39] modeled residual stresses and distortions
of a 3D printed car chassis made from a fiber-reinforced ABS. The resulting developed
set of simulations was a multi-scale tool. Based on a measured fiber orientation
distribution of a printed bead and reverse engineered constituent properties, effective
mechanical properties were determined. A rectangular mesh for the car was built based
on the machine code from the path generation software. During the analysis, the
elements were activated according to a simulated printing path. Each element was
provided with the effective mechanical properties based on the fiber orientation. A
thermomechanical analysis in Abaqus was conducted using temperature fields from
tests as input. Residual stress and distortion states at the end of the print were
determined. Linear elastic fracture mechanics was implemented in order to analyze
cracks between beads. Based on the results, problematic areas for delaminations could
be identified to aid the print of a car [2, 18]. Since ABS was the material utilized in these
simulations, no crystallization kinetics model was included. Furthermore, the modulus
development based on the viscoelastic material behavior with related stress relaxations
was not specified.
Brenken et al. [40] followed a different approach. Instead of starting with three
dimensions, the objective was to first fully understand the different physical phenomena
and their couplings involved in the FDM process. In the paper, the authors present a
parametric 2D thermal model in COMSOL which is strongly coupled to a non-
isothermal crystallization kinetics analysis. The transient thermal and crystallization
histories can be determined for various square-packed cross sections of a printed
structure. Future objectives describe the implementation of the viscoelastic behavior and
the stress and deformation analyses. With identified significant couplings, an extension
to a three-dimensional analysis is intended.

Mechanical Characterization

After a part is printed, effective properties are needed to conduct FEA analyses of
larger components, for instance to model the behavior of the part due to an imposed
loading. Since modeling the full complexity of the printed structure is not feasible,
models and techniques have to be developed to determine effective part properties. This
subsection focuses on work related to this objective.
In an experimental study, Rodriguez et al. [41] characterized mesostructural features
like the interbead void density and geometry based on processing variables for the FDM
process with ABS. The importance of the mesostructure was pronounced. Based on this
work, the authors developed in another paper [42] both analytical and computational
models for predicting the stiffness and strength of FDM printed parts, based on
mesostructural parameters. A unidirectional printed part was modeled as a
homogeneous linear elastic orthotropic continua and homogenization approaches were
employed to determine effective orthotropic properties. For failure predictions, the
theory by Azzi and Tsai was implemented. Modeled mechanical properties were
compared to experiments. The deviations for the moduli predictions were found to be
less than 10% for most cases. Void shape was determined to be crucial to the mechanical
properties.
A study by Favaloro et al. [43] showed that adding fibers to the material significantly
increases the complexity of the homogenization problem. In addition to the
mesostructure, the microstructure of the beads becomes significant for the final part
properties as well. The authors considered a varying fiber orientation through the
thickness of a bead, similar to that presented in [18]. In addition, variations in void
volume fraction, fiber volume fraction and fiber aspect ratio were modeled, as it is to be
expected for a realistic printed bead. As a result, orthotropic properties are found by
homogenization for a single bead. Furthermore, a nonzero B matrix is determined as
effective single layer plate properties are computed, which results in extension-bending
coupling of the part. These findings should be considered for describing fiber-reinforced
FDM printed parts.
FUTURE NEEDS

In order to formulate and explain future needs regarding the FDM process with fiber
reinforced materials, all of the related physical phenomena and their interactions have
to be well defined and understood. This section attempts to capture these complexities
that are present in the fiber-reinforced FDM process to formulate future needs, based on
the work reviewed in the last section.
Starting from the beginning of the FDM process, the material is molten to be
deposited on the printing bead. This melting procedure mainly determines the fiber
length distribution in the printed parts. In the case of pellet extrusion, the screw of the
extruder causes fiber attrition that affects the final length distribution. Hence, models
are needed in order to predict the fiber length distribution in the material before
deposition. Unfortunately, fiber attrition is very dependent on the screw design, which
itself is still a very active area of research in FDM with direct extrusion.
The resulting fiber orientation in the beads is mainly determined by the material
flow through the die and the subsequent deposition onto the printing bed. Instead of
considering a Newtonian isotropic fluid [29], the flow should be modeled as an
anisotropic viscous flow. The fibers affect the velocity and the velocity gradients of the
flow field as they determine the viscosity components, which in turn have a strong
influence on the resulting fiber orientation. Current molding and viscous flow solvers
do not solve for 4th order or higher orientation tensors. Furthermore, they do not consider
anisotropic flow properties. Consequently, there is a need for improved tools to capture
the fiber orientation evolution in a more realistic way. A possible solution is to employ
mechanical solvers like Abaqus with a user defined material for the accurate depiction
of the anisotropic flow. Among the flow of the material though the die, the deposition
is also considered to be important for the resulting fiber orientation. Due to the 90 degree
turn of the material caused in the deposition process, additional shear is imposed on the
material. This shear is expected to influence the resulting fiber orientation, especially
for extruded beads of a larger diameter. To the best knowledge of the authors, no work
has treated the effect of this turn on the fiber orientation yet.
As the material leaves the die and is deposited, it starts to cool down. As reviewed
in the last section, a certain number of heat transfer models have been developed to
describe the cooling of the laid down material. In a three-dimensional model, anisotropic
conduction needs to be considered as the thermal conductivity varies with fiber
orientation.
The effect of the fibers has to be addressed for the interface formation between beads
as well. From micrographs taken at Purdue University, it was observed that for highly
fiber-filled material systems, a considerable amount of fibers were present directly at
the bead surface. Therefore, they are expected to influence the interface formation as
they affect the relevant viscosity transverse to the beads. Furthermore, the gradients of
surface tension that drive the necking in the case of the presented sintering model [31]
will likely be influenced. Another important aspect is polymer crystallization in the case
of a semi-crystalline polymer. Such a polymer, e.g. PPS, can be interesting for high
temperature applications since it is significantly more affordable than a comparable
amorphous polymer like PEI [17]. During crystallization, viscosities are increased
dramatically. Based on the sintering model [31], these increased viscosities should
hinder interface formation significantly and thus they need to be accounted for.
 In the last section, two three-dimensional models were summarized that were
developed to describe the thermomechanical behavior of the deposited material [37, 39].
One of them was already developed for fiber reinforced materials accounting for
effective mechanical properties based on the fiber orientation [39]. Based on resulting
deformations, residual stress states and delamination predictions, a car was successfully
printed. Consequently considerable progress has been made on predicting residual
stresses and distortions of printed parts. While the results seem to yield acceptable first
order approximations, it is believed that they are wrong quantitatively. No information
was found about the viscoelastic behavior and the development of the modulus during
the cool down phase, so it is assumed that this aspect was not considered. After
deposition, the material transitions from a viscous fluid to a solid viscoelastic material
upon cooling. Stresses relax out during this transition. The material changes both its
mechanical and thermal properties, which should be accounted for. Furthermore, the
effect of gravity can be significant. Based on experience at Purdue University, gravity
can cause sagging during the printing process. When the stiffness of the recently
deposited material does not develop fast enough, the part loses its dimensional stability
and the print cannot be completed. As a consequence, gravity should be implemented
in a thermomechanical analysis. If a semi-crystalline polymer is used, an additional
complexity is added. Crystalline regions of the polymer change both their mechanical
and thermal properties. In addition to the thermoelastic shrinkage, contraction due to
crystallization has to be considered. Since all of the described phenomena are happening
simultaneously, a first objective should be to model them in a reduced model to identify
the most significant couplings. This information can then be employed to simulate the
consolidation process of realistic parts.
In order to get realistic homogenized material properties for FEA analyses of printed
parts, both the microscopic scale of a single bead as well as the mesoscopic scale of a
structure of printed beads have to be considered. This was already mentioned in the last
section and is underlined by the work of Favaloro et al. [43]. On the microscale,
variations in fiber orientation, void volume fraction, fiber volume fraction and fiber
aspect ratio are relevant. Regarding the mesoscale, shape, size and number of the
interbead voids determine the resulting mechanical properties in the bead direction. All
of these influencing factors should be considered accordingly. In the transverse
directions, the interface strength has to be captured.

CONCLUSIONS

The present paper summarizes a wide variety of work on Fused Deposition

Modeling with fiber-reinforced materials. Both mechanical test data and simulation
work about the FDM process are reviewed and presented.
Many papers focus on the development and printability of different fiber-reinforced
material systems. Often tensile tests are conducted to analyze the improvements and
mechanical properties are compared to the neat polymer data. This paper summarized
these testing results for relevant studies by plotting the stiffness over the strength data.
Three different cases were considered: test data for discontinuous fiber-reinforced
material systems parallel to the bead direction, transverse to the bead direction and
results in printing direction from samples with continuous fiber reinforcements. Most
of the data reviewed show mechanical properties clearly inferior to aluminum, which
pronounces the need for an optimization and a better understanding of the fiber-
reinforced FDM process.
Next, the paper summarized past progress on modeling FDM and its related
phenomena. Here, the focus was on studies with fiber-reinforced materials as well;
nevertheless, promising work for neat polymers was also presented and discussed. It
was found that just a minority of studies focus on fiber-reinforced materials. Often,
important physical aspects were not considered in studies both describing fiber-
reinforced materials and neat polymers.
Finally, based on a thorough analysis and explanation of the FDM process and its
related physical phenomena, the limits of the past work were identified and needs for
future research were formulated. An important conclusion is that more emphasis should
be put on understanding and modeling the different phenomena and their couplings.
At the current stage of significant technical achievements in FDM development, the
method itself is still empirically calibrated. This review of scientific work in connection
with suggestions for future work is intended to support the research community to
advance the FDM method into a predictable and reliable manufacturing method.

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