Abstract

Recent studies have focused on the intrinsic advantages of 3D printing, i.e., a high degree of material orientation and fabrication of sequential additive architectures. Nonetheless, these have failed to go beyond a qualitative analysis of the effects on the mechanical responses from the structural anisotropy that arises from the intrinsic nature of 3D printing. There is a need to examine the correlation between the microstructure and the mechanical properties, and the anisotropic fracture behavior of 3D-printed composites is not fully understood. In-depth investigation is needed to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the deformation and fracture processes from interfacial damage through to component failure. In this seminar, three-dimensional analysis of additively manufactured hierarchical composites using tomography visualization and digital volume correlation (DVC) will be briefly discussed. Digital Volume Correlation (DVC) is a full-field analysis of volumetric displacements and strains of materials and structures. This 3D full-field measurement is particularly suitable for understanding complex static and dynamic mechanical properties of 3D-printed composites such as localization induced by heterogeneities between components, mechanical and thermal mismatches, microcracks, fatigue behavior, and phase transitions. DVC analysis allows researchers to quantify the 3D interaction of cracks and microstructures in more detail and adds a new dimension to experimental field, providing information on 4D data (3D + time).