This paper evaluates the mechanical and thermal properties of 3D-printed short carbon fiber reinforced composites (sCFRPs). A numerical analysis was developed to predict the mechanical and thermal properties of the sCFRPs, which were verified via experimental tests. In the experiments, a novel technique was adopted by coating the sCFRPs with carbon fiber fabric and copper mesh to further improve its mechanical and thermal performance. Various copper meshes (60-mesh, 100-mesh and 150-mesh) were integrated with carbon fiber fabric to form a multilayer structure, which was then coated on the surface of Nylon 12-CF composite material (base material) to form a composite plate. The effects of the copper mesh on the mechanical and thermal properties of the composite plate were studied theoretically and experimentally. The results show that the addition of different copper meshes had a significant influence on the mechanical and thermal properties of the composite plate, which contained carbon fiber fabric, copper mesh and the base material. Among them, the mechanical and thermal properties of the composite plate with the 60-mesh copper mesh were significantly improved, while the improvement effect slowly declined with the increase in the thickness of the base material. The composite plate with 100-mesh and 150-mesh copper meshes had improved mechanical properties, whereas the influence on its thermal conductivity was limited. For thermal conductivity calculation, both the thickness and length directions of the heat transfer were considered. The comparative analysis indicated that the calculated values and experimental results are in excellent agreement, meaning that this numerical model is a useful tool for guiding the design of surface lamination for 3D-printed sCFRPs.

The widespread deployment of service robots in domestic and professional environments demands structural solutions that simultaneously achieve high stiffness, low mass, and intrinsic safety. Traditional metallic structural designs face a fundamental physical conflict: achieving high stiffness typically results in excessive mass, which compromises operational safety and battery life. To solve this, this paper presents a critical review of an integrated lightweighting strategy combining material selection, structural design, and additive manufacturing for Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) service robot structures. Three critical findings are presented. First, specific stiffness is established as the governing criterion for material selection, providing a unified basis to resolve the stiffness–mass conflict. Second, among current 3D printing techniques, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) with continuous-fiber reinforcement overcomes the geometric constraints of traditional molding, enabling the fabrication of complex, customized structures. Third, to realize the full potential of 3D-printed CFRP, we highlight the importance of integrating material properties (anisotropy), structural design (topology optimization), and manufacturing processes (path planning) into a concurrent framework. This integrated approach is validated through a collaborative robotic-arm case study, achieving a 30% reduction in structural mass.