Open Access

ARTICLE

Mechanical Properties and Fracture Behavior of 3D Printed Continuous Glass Fiber Reinforced PEEK Composite

Haoliang Ding^1,2, Han Yu², Yunfeng Zhao², Chunze Yan¹, Yusheng Shi^1,*, Binling Chen^3,*

1 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China
2 Aerospace Research Institute of Materials & Processing Technology, Beijing, 100076, China
3 School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China

* Corresponding Authors: Yusheng Shi. Email: ; Binling Chen. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Advances in Functional Polymer Composites: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications)

Journal of Polymer Materials 2025, 42(2), 497-516. https://doi.org/10.32604/jpm.2025.063324

Received 11 January 2025; Accepted 14 May 2025; Issue published 14 July 2025

Abstract

Polyether ether ketone (PEEK)-based continuous glass fiber reinforced thermoplastic composite offers advantages such as high strength, electrical insulation, and heat insulation. Parts manufactured using this composite and 3D printing have promising applications in aerospace, automobile, rail transit, etc. In this paper, a high-temperature melt impregnation method was used to successfully prepare the 3D printing prepreg filaments of the aforementioned composite. In the FDM 3D printing equipment, a nozzle of high thermal conductivity and wear-resistant copper alloy and a PEEK-based carbon fiber thermoplastic composite build plate with uniform temperature control were innovatively introduced to effectively improve the quality of 3D printing. The porosity of the 3D printed samples produced from the composite prepreg filament was analyzed under different printing parameters, and the mechanical properties and fracture mechanism of the printed parts were studied. The results show that the printing layer thickness, printing speed, printing temperature and build plate temperature have varying effects on the porosity of printed parts, which in turn affects tensile strength and the interlaminar shear strength (ILSS). When the printing layer thickness is 0.4 mm, printing speed is 2 mm/s, nozzle temperature is 430°C and build plate temperature is 150°C, the tensile strength and ILSS of the composite printed parts reach their maximum values of 463.76 and 24.95 MPa, respectively. Microscopic analysis of the fracture morphology of the tensile specimens reveals that the 3D printed CGF/PEEK composite sample has three types of fracture mode, which are single filament bundle fracture, fracture mode of delamination, and fracture failure of the sample at the cross-section. The essence of the above three kinds of fracture mode is the difference of the interface bonding force of 3D printed CGF/PEEK composites. The fracture failure at the cross-section is that the continuous glass fibers in the composite are pulled out until they break, which is the main form of the failure of the composite under tensile load. The interfacial region of the composite is prone to microscopic defects such as voids and delamination during 3D printing, which become the most vulnerable link of the composite. Understanding the relationship between voids and fracture behavior lays a foundation for defect suppression and performance improvement of subsequent printed parts.

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