Fibro-porous materials: 3D-printed hybrid porous materials for multifunctional applications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-25-2024

Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Abstract

This work demonstrates the additive manufacturing of fibro-porous materials—hybrid materials with a fiber mesh integrated within the open cells of a base porous scaffold. The presented method allows seamless incorporation of fibers, with precise control of the fiber diameter and mesh density, into the scaffold without requiring any additional postprocessing steps. Here, using a gyroid pore architecture as the base scaffold, this study fabricates the fibro-porous materials using an extrusion-based additive technique and investigates their resultant sound absorption, pressure drop, mechanical stiffness, and energy absorption properties. Two-microphone normal incidence impedance tube measurements reveal significant improvements in the sound absorption performance compared to that of denser, fiberless porous material counterparts while maintaining a 33 % lighter weight. Additional tests, including pressure drop and static airflow resistivity measurements, indicate that fiber integration reduces the effective pore size and increases flow resistance, boosting sound absorption at lower frequencies. The mechanical properties are also markedly improved, with stiffness and yield stress increasing by 27 % and 37.85 %, respectively. The fibro-porous samples provide 30 % more energy absorption per unit volume due to their increased resistance to deformation. This research demonstrates that additively manufactured fibro-porous materials provide substantial multifunctional performance gains without significant weight increase. The adaptable manufacturing process is compatible with various extrudable materials and opens a new route to designing complex, customized engineering structures with application-specific functionalities.

Publication Title

Additive Manufacturing

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