Challenges and opportunities of fibre-reinforced polymers in additive manufacturing with focus on industrial applications

Functional parts made by additive manufacturing of polymers have entered the area of industrial applications in recent years providing a wide range of materials with various mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties. These additive manufacturing processes can be combined with known fibre-reinforcements applying modified material parameters with the use of fibre-reinforced polymers.

An increase of tensile strength and Young’s modulus result from the application of short fibres in a polymer matrix opening up perspectives for a variety of industrial applications such as injection moulding, biomedical engineering, aerospace, racing, and train technology. A literature survey was conducted in order to identify challenges and opportunities in these fields.