Mechanical properties of wooden elements with 3D printed reinforcement from polymers and carbon

Abstract

The research presented in this article aimed to investigate the differences in mechanical properties between solid structural timber and the same reinforced element in three different ways. A three-point bending test was performed on wood elements reinforced with carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP), 3D printed polycarbonate (3DPC) lamellas, and 3D printed polycarbonate with carbon fiber (3DPCCF) lamellas. In this comparison, the bending strength was large for CFRP samples, which have 8% higher performance than samples with 3DPCCF and 19% higher performance than samples with 3DPC. Conversely, when factoring in theoretical manufacturing costs, the performance of 3DPCCF is almost three times that of CFRP and 3DPC. In addition, 3D materials can be used for more complicated reinforcement shapes than those discussed in the paper.