The integration of endless fiber reinforced composites in additive manufacturing enables the automated production of materials with high mechanical properties such as strength. The current state of the art utilizing print heads with separate fiber and matrix feeds showed that, without active infiltration, the fiber infiltration is poor or not possible for thermoplastics with low flowability (high viscosity). In this work, the improvement of the print head technology and the investigated infiltration effect lead to a significantly higher infiltration. The material selection of thermoplastic matrix (PA6) and fiber reinforcement (carbon fiber) were adjusted for the new process parameters. The selection of the fiber matrix combination was conducted using the interfacial tension calculations at room temperature. The polar and dispersive surface energy of two different carbon fibers as well as the wetting of PA6 polymer melts on carbon fibers and on aluminum carriers were investigated. The calculation of composite properties using material data of the matrix and fiber was used to determine the process windows for specific parameters such as layer height, layer width and nozzle size. Furthermore, the mechanical properties and the cost of the composite can be determined in relationship with the materials used and the fiber volume content. The composition of the fiber sizing and the influence of high processing temperatures was characterized using TGA, FTIR spectroscopy and XPS |