Full-field 3D scanning of warpage in carbon-fibre-reinforced FDM parts: Effects of print parameters and post-print annealing

Most reported warpage data for carbon-fibre-reinforced (CF) fused deposition modelling (FDM) parts rely on sparse point measurements and single-replicate designs. This study uses full-field structured-light 3D scanning to quantify as-printed warpage in three CF-FDM filaments (PLA-CF, PAHT-CF, PPA-CF) and test whether manufacturer annealing is dimensionally safe. Coupons were printed in a fully replicated design (n = 3/condition; 81 coupons, 162 scans), varying raster angle, infill density and chamber temperature. Baseline warpage differed significantly but modestly between materials (PPA-CF > PAHT-CF > PLA-CF; p < 0.001), although a dataset-level diagnostic reported below indicates this baseline ranking should not be treated as validated. Annealing significantly increased RMS warpage in PLA-CF and PAHT-CF (p < 0.001) but not PPA-CF (p = 0.310), although PPA-CF's shape changed significantly; RMS and point-based metrics disagreed in sign for 37-48% of specimens. These paired, within-specimen annealing findings are the manuscript's central result and are shown to be structurally independent of the baseline diagnostic above. Manufacturer schedules should not be assumed dimensionally safe without full-field checks. This dataset supersedes a preliminary single-replicate pilot (45 specimens); the pilot's different baseline values are addressed through a dedicated reproducibility analysis rather than simply disclosed as an unexamined limitation.