Metal fiber composite additive manufacturing (MFC-AM) and composite structures formed by MFC-AM

An additive manufacturing system comprising:

• a fused filament fabrication (FFF) printer assembly with at least one polymer deposition nozzle;
• and
• a metal fiber composite (MFC) printer assembly constructed to simultaneously embed multiple continuous metal fibers into deposited polymer structures,
• wherein the MFC printer assembly includes a fiber feed system that simultaneously feeds the multiple metal fibers to a deposition region, and an embedding plate at a trailing portion of the fiber feed system and constructed to apply at least pressure to the multiple metal fibers fed to the deposition region, and
• a cutting mechanism is disposed between the fiber feed system and the embedding plate,
• wherein the fiber feed system is spaced from a leading end of the embedding plate by a horizontal gap, and the cutting mechanism is disposed so as to sever metal fibers extending across the horizontal gap.

An additive manufacturing system comprising:

• a fused filament fabrication (FFF) printer assembly with at least one polymer deposition nozzle;
• and
• a metal fiber composite (MFC) printer assembly constructed to simultaneously embed multiple continuous metal fibers into deposited polymer structures,
• wherein the MFC printer assembly includes a fiber feed system that simultaneously feeds the multiple metal fibers to a deposition region, and an embedding plate at a trailing portion of the fiber feed system and constructed to apply at least pressure to the multiple metal fibers fed to the deposition region;
• the embedding plate is constructed to heat the multiple metal fibers from the fiber feed system prior to or within the deposition region;
• the fiber feed system is thermally isolated from the embedding plate;
• the fiber feed system is separated from the embedding plate by a gap;
• the embedding plate has a trailing surface and a leading surface between the trailing surface and the fiber feed system along a horizontal direction;
• the trailing surface extends substantially parallel to the horizontal direction;
• the leading surface is tilted at an angle with respect to the trailing surface;
• the leading surface is constructed to contact and preheat the metal fibers from the fiber feed system prior to the metal fibers being fed to the deposition region;
• and
• the trailing surface is constructed to contact and push the preheated metal fibers from the leading surface into an underlying polymer build layer in the deposition region.