Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026.
3D-printed composites represent a cutting-edge advancement in additive manufacturing, offering the ability to fabricate high-strength, lightweight structures by embedding continuous fibers within a single deposition process. This innovative approach significantly enhances the mechanical performance of printed parts compared to traditional polymer-based 3D printing. In this article, we present a structured review of recent developments in 3D-printed composite technologies. The discussion is organized into three key areas: (i) the types and properties of continuous fibers used in 3D printing, (ii) the underlying mechanisms and systems that enable fiber deposition, and (iii) emerging strategies involving commingled materials that integrate reinforcement and matrix components at the filament level. This review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state and future directions of continuous fiber-reinforced additive manufacturing.
This study evaluates the daytime thermal-regulation performance of a hybrid composite brick integrated with a phase change material (PCM) core containing paraffin, natural zeolite, and a hydrogel ice pack. A one-dimensional finite volume method (1D FVM) model with a 10-node through-thickness grid and an effective heat-capacity formulation was used to represent transient conduction and was validated against outdoor measurements collected at 15-min intervals from 06:00 to 18:00 over six consecutive days. The measured exterior surface reached 45.52 °C at 12:15, whereas the brick core reached 44.58 °C at 13:45, giving a 90-min peak-temperature time lag. The maximum exterior-to-core temperature difference was 7.88 °C and the maximum exterior-to-interior thermal decrement was 4.65 °C. The calculated conduction heat flux reached 32.50 W/m2 during heat absorption and −4.76 W/m2 during heat release. Model validation yielded MAE = 0.577 °C, RMSE = 0.788 °C, and R2 = 0.994. Because the maximum core temperature only approached the lower end of the reported paraffin melting interval (44–60 °C), a linear phase-fraction interpretation indicates only the onset of melting (approximately 3.6% at the core peak), rather than complete PCM melting. The results therefore support the hybrid brick as a thermal-buffering wall concept while defining the scope of the reduced-order model: radiation and free convection are not solved as separate field equations but are embedded in the measured surface-temperature boundary conditions.
