Mechanical Properties of PolyJet 3D-Printed Composites Inspired by Space-Filling Peano Curves

Abstract

This paper presents a novel design for composite materials inspired by the Peano curve and manufactured using PolyJet 3D printing technology with Agilus30 (flexible phase) and VeroMagentaV (rigid phase). The mechanical properties of these composites were evaluated through tensile and compression tests. The general rule of mixture (ROM) was used to estimate the tensile properties of the hybrid materials and compare them with experimental results. The study examines the effects of reinforcement alignments and hierarchies. Results showed that a 5% inclusion of Peano reinforcement in tensile samples improved the elastic modulus by up to 6 MPa, though it did not significantly enhance the ultimate tensile strength. For compression tests, strengths ranged from 2 MPa to 6 MPa for cubes with first-order reinforcement, while values around 2 MPa were observed for those with second-order reinforcement. First-order reinforcement proved to be more effective than second-order reinforcement, even with the same volume fraction of 10% in compression cubes. Additionally, variations in second-order designs led to slightly different mechanical properties based on the ratio of reinforcement parallel to the loading direction.