Development and comprehensive investigation on PLA / carbon fiber reinforced PLA based structurally alternate layered polymer composites

Progressive research on polymer composites is encouraged in this current era in order to create a new functional structured material for various integrated engineering applications. The present investigation entails developing a novel Structurally alternate-layered Material (SAM) with a common Polylactic Acid (PLA) and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) via their successive alternate layer deposition using the non-toxic and high printing speed capacity 3D printing approach - Filament Freedom Fabrication (FFF) with raster angle of 0 degrees. Extensive experimental studies on mechanical behavior and microscopic observation of SAM are carried out. Furthermore, SAM is subjected to numerical simulation via ABACUS on mechanical testing for identifying its tensile and compression behaviour. The resulting data are compared to those of PLA and CFRP. The results obtained from both the numerical and experimental methodologies are congruent, indicating that the mechanical behaviour of SAM is superior to PLA and marginally comparable to CFRP. Overall, the newly synthesized SAM is advantageous and could be potentially considered as a mechanically stabled, cost-effective and feasible alternative polymer composite material for any integrated engineering applications.