Selective laser sintering (SLS) of polymers is on the edge from a pure prototyping technique to a small-scale production. For this transition, characteristic values such as long-term properties, and thus the degradation mechanism, are crucial factors for enabling a series application. Due to the specific characteristics of SLS parts like porosity and rough surfaces, a direct transfer of known mechanisms and models for injection molded (IM) parts is not or just to a limited extent possible. This leads to the aim of this paper, which is to investigate and compare the degradation behavior of polyamide 12 parts produced by SLS and IM.
AbstractA limiting factor for industrial usage of laser-sintered parts is the high surface roughness due to the semi-molten or attaching powder particles resulting from tool and pressureless manufacturing. An approach to improve the surface quality is the postprocessing with acids to smoothen the surface as it enables improvement without geometrical restrictions of the parts. The present work deals with the usage of nitric, hydrochloric, and trifluoroacetic acids, and exhibits the influence on the resulting surface morphology, dimensional accuracy, and the mechanical properties. The results exhibit different interaction mechanics and show great differences in the resulting part properties.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.