Processing, mechanical characterization, and micrography of 3D-printed short carbon fiber reinforced polycarbonate polymer matrix composite material

This study focuses on the processing and mechanical characterization of short carbon fiber (SCF) reinforced polycarbonate (PC) composite materials using fused filament fabrication (FFF). Different SCF volume fractions (3–10%) and printing speeds were tested. Mechanical tests (tensile, flexural, compression, microhardness) and SEM analysis were conducted to evaluate performance. The work applies micromechanics and classical lamination theory to estimate Young’s modulus and uses ANOVA and RSM to determine the optimal processing parameters.