Effects of gamma irradiation on mechanical properties of 3D-printed carbon fiber–reinforced ABS

3D-printed samples of carbon fiber–reinforced acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (CF-ABS) are exposed to radiation doses of up to 15 kGy with a Cobalt-60 gamma irradiator. The effects of irradiation, the choice of material (CF-ABS or ABS), and the order of fabrication (before or after irradiation) are examined. CF-ABS has a smaller ultimate tensile strength and a larger elastic modulus than ABS alone regardless of the radiation dose or the order of printing. At zero dose, flexural moduli for CF-ABS are 66% larger than those in ABS. Several properties of CF-ABS show almost a 20% decrease after 1 kGy of irradiation when it is printed with pre-irradiated filament, which does not occur in ABS or when CF-ABS samples are printed prior to irradiation.