Mechanical Performance of Laminated Polymer Composites Fabricated via Stereolithography (SLA) 3D Printing

Laminated polymer composites have emerged as a promising class of materials that provide exceptional mechanical and functional properties owing to multilayered architectures. In addition, additive manufacturing (AM) offers boundless opportunities to fabricate complex and intricate geometries with a wide variety of materials. Utilizing AM processes for producing laminated polymer composites can open new pathways for producing these intricate structures with fine control over geometry, layer thickness, and material distribution. In this study, we demonstrate the use of the stereolithography (SLA) process to fabricate laminated polymer composites to overcome the limitations of extrusion-based AM processes, i.e., challenges in high precision, strong interlayer bonding and uniform particle distribution. Photocurable polymer composites were prepared by adding different reinforcing particles, i.e., cobalt iron oxide (CoFe2O4), graphene (G), magnesium (Mg) and iron (II,III) oxide (Fe3O4), into the photocurable resin. Ultrasonication and mechanical mixing processes were used to prepare stable photocurable composites suitable for the SLA process. SLA process was also optimized, varying the process parameters (exposure time, bottom exposure time and bottom layer count) to achieve optimum dimensional accuracy and surface quality. Microscopic analysis confirmed the distinct and well-adhered composite layer sandwiched between the unfilled resin, validating the structural integrity of the multilayer design. Mechanical testing revealed significant improvement in the tensile properties of the laminated composites compared to pure resin, with resin/CoFe2O4 exhibiting 35.6% and 50.1% improvement in tensile strength and Young’s modulus compared to the pure resin, respectively. These results highlight the feasibility of SLA for producing multilayered polymer composites with improved mechanical performance and controlled architecture, broadening its potential for advanced engineering and biomedical applications.