Journal article

The effect of a superhydrophobic coating on moisture absorption and tensile strength of 3D-printed carbon-fibre/polyamide

PB Kreider, A Cardew-Hall, S Sommacal, A Chadwick, S Hümbert, S Nowotny, D Nisbet, A Tricoli, P Compston

Composites Part A Applied Science and Manufacturing | Published : 2021

Abstract

This work investigates the effectiveness of fluorinated silica-based superhydrophobic coatings to protect 3D-printed carbon-fibre/polyamide composites against moisture-induced degradation. Increasing exposure time in wet and humid environments led to a reduction of tensile strength and an increase in experienced strain. However, the coated PA demonstrated 6.7–12.4% higher tensile yield strength than the uncoated PA. High-resolution X-ray micro computed tomography (μCT) was used to image the microstructure and revealed that the superhydrophobic coating effectively prevented liquid water penetration into 3D-printed polyamide and delayed water vapour-driven mechanical degradation. The presence ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

This project was conducted within the ARC Training Centre for Automated Manufacture of Advanced Composites (IC160100040), supported by the Commonwealth of Australia under the Australian Research Council's Industrial Transformation Research Program. The research was also supported in part through the Australian Research Council's Linkage Projects funding scheme (LPLP170101157). The authors acknowledge the facilities and the scientific andD technical assistance of Microscopy Australia at the Centre for Advanced Microscopy, Australian National University, a facility that is funded by the University and the Federal Government.