EFFECT OF THE FIBER-MATRIX SEPARATION ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF A FIBERGLASS REINFORCED POLYAMIDE FORGED BEAM

In the present work, ribbed beams have been manufactured by forging fiberglass-reinforced polyamide using two different temperatures. The higher processing temperature studied (300 ºC) ensures the filling of the mold in the forging/GMT process, but also increases the fiber-matrix separation phenomenon, limiting the length of the rib with fiber (11%). This heterogeneity in the fiber content translates into a loss of stiffness and strength in the area of ​​the rib with respect to the area of ​​the base, of 70 and 60% respectively, for the most severe case (300 ºC). The second contribution of the work has been the demonstration of additive manufacturing, more specifically pellet extrusion, as a rapid prototyping technology in structural studies, since the stiffness of the 3D printing component was in intermediate values ​​of the two forged prototypes, but its strength and elongation at break have been even higher.