Nano-silica Modified 3D-printed PETG-carbon Fiber Composites: Structure–property Correlation
J. Environ. Nanotechnol., Volume 15, No 2 (June 2026) pp. 684-693
Abstract
Short carbon fiber-reinforced PETG (PETG-CF) printed by fused deposition modeling often shows a strong stiffness–ductility trade-off because of weak fiber–matrix adhesion and void formation. In this work, 2 wt% nano-silica was introduced into PETG-CF through melt compounding, and the resulting ternary filament was assessed by tensile, compressive, hardness, DMA, SEM, micro-CT, TEM, and Weibull analysis. Compared with PETG-CF, the ternary composite increased tensile strength by 12% to 69.9 MPa (p < 0.01), recovered elongation at break by 39% to 3.9%, improved toughness by 32% to 1.52 MJ/m³, raised interfacial shear strength by 31% to 10.2 MPa (p < 0.01), reduced void fraction by 40% to 1.9%, and increased Tg by 15 °C to 93 °C. Future scope: The composite looks promising for stiffness-critical printed parts, but fatigue, long-term durability, and process-window validation should still be studied before structural use.
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Reference
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