Mechanical characterization of Nylon CF printed by FDM process by using energy methods

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a production process that allows the creation of customizable devices which could satisfy modern industry requirements. The aim of this work is to study the mechanical behaviour of PA12 filament reinforced with 15% of carbon fibres, obtained by Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) process, to evaluate the influence of 3D printing machine on material behaviour, and to estimate fatigue limit through energy methods. Mechanical characterization tests were performed using an innovative testing machine, patented by University of Messina’s academic spin-off Knowow and designed in collaboration with ItalSigma srl., called Rapid Fatigue Machine (RFM) crafted to use IR thermography and DIC analysis on the specimen. Results demonstrate that the stress limit estimated by Static Thermographic Method is related with fatigue limit estimated by Risitano’s Thermographic Method. The results reveal a good approximation between the fatigue behaviour studied with energetic methods and the fatigue life determined with classical methods.