Tensile, Flexural, and Compressive Strength of Natural and Glass Fabric Composites Fabricated Using Vat-Photopolymerization Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing is a transformative approach to industrial production that enables the creation of lighter, more complex shapes, and robust parts. This study fabricates E-glass and natural silk fabric-reinforced composites using the digital light processing-based Vat-photopolymerization 3D printing technique. Several reinforced layers are incorporated in three different arrangements to build composite laminates. Tensile, compressive, and bending tests were conducted to determine the mechanical strength of printed composites. The experimental results showed a 71.43% and 38.24% improvement in tensile and flexural strength of triple-layered glass fabric composite laminates compared to the neat sample. However, a maximum enhancement of 100.04% in the compressive strength of single-layered natural silk fabric composite laminate has been observed. Moreover, we employed digital microscopy to investigate the debonding properties at the damaged sites of the fractured composite laminates, gaining a thorough understanding of the fracture mechanisms at the microstructure level.