Fused filament fabrication 3D printing is currently limited for its application in producing space components because of the performance of current polymeric materials. During this research a novel method for 3D printing 5% carbon fibre and different quantities of graphene nanoplatelets of between 0.01% and 5% has been developed. These formulations have been used to reinforce Polyethylene terephthalate thermoplastic that has been subsequently 3D printed to form a microsatellite chassis. This research demonstrates how the novel polymer blend has significantly improved electrically conductive and mechanical properties over that of the parent polymer, which was evaluated after 3D printing. These results confirm that the formulation developed during this research has the performance properties required for 3D printing of space structures. It has been observed that the process through which the nanocomposite masterbatch is manufactured is highly sensitive to the processes used. This is particularly the case when creating multi-material nanocomposite formulations. The research demonstrates how traditional 3D printing technology can be used to fabricate a range of high-performance cube microsatellite structures.

由于当前聚合物材料的性能，熔融长丝制造 3D 打印目前在生产空间组件方面的应用受到限制。在这项研究中，开发了一种用于 3D 打印 5% 碳纤维和不同数量的 0.01% 至 5% 石墨烯纳米片的新方法。这些配方已被用于增强聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯热塑性塑料，随后通过 3D 打印形成微型卫星底盘。这项研究表明，与 3D 打印后评估的母体聚合物相比，新型聚合物共混物如何显着改善导电和机械性能。这些结果证实，在这项研究中开发的配方具有空间结构 3D 打印所需的性能特性。已经观察到制造纳米复合母料的过程对所使用的过程高度敏感。在创建多材料纳米复合材料配方时尤其如此。该研究展示了如何使用传统的 3D 打印技术来制造一系列高性能立方体微卫星结构。