Abstract
Amorphous polymers are heavily utilized materials in selective laser sintering (SLS) due to their good dimensional accuracy. However, sintered parts of amorphous polymers cannot be used as functional parts owing to their poor forming performance, including their low relative densities and tensile strength. Therefore, post-processing methods are employed to enhance the mechanical properties of amorphous polymers SLS parts without damaging their relatively high dimensional accuracy. In this study, the forming process of selective laser sintering (SLS) and post-processing on polystyrene (PS) was investigated. The orthogonal experiment was designed to obtain the optimal combination of process parameters. The effect of a single process parameter and the laser volumetric energy density (LVED) on dimension accuracy and warpage of the sintered parts were also discussed. In addition, a three-dimensional (3D) thermal model was developed to analyze the temperature fields of single-layer SLS parts and PS powder sintering mechanism. Then, infiltrating with epoxy resin was employed to enhance the mechanical properties of the PS parts. Good resin-infiltrated formulation was obtained based on the mechanical property tests and fractured surface analysis. This research provides guidance for SLS process and post-processing technology in polymers.
Highlights
Selective laser sintering (SLS) is one of the most efficient additive manufacturing techniques, which employs laser scanning to make a three-dimensional part from powder materials
Optimum process parameters of PS parts were selected by the orthogonal test of four factors and four levels, with the laser power, scanning speed, layer thickness and scanning interval represented as A, B, C and D respectively
The effect of selective laser sintering (SLS) processing parameters on the part quality of PS materials was investigated in this study, especially the dimensional accuracy and warpage
Summary
Selective laser sintering (SLS) is one of the most efficient additive manufacturing techniques, which employs laser scanning to make a three-dimensional part from powder materials. Post-processing methods were employed to enhance the mechanical properties of amorphous polymers SLS parts without damaging their relatively high dimensional accuracy. Mokrane et al [23] developed a numerical tool for simulating SLS of polymer powders, which was validated at the numerical level and tested against the experimental study These studies indicate that the FE model can provide good prediction of temperature and mechanical properties evolutions during SLS process. Analyze effects of laser power, printing parameters and part properties can be investigated with application of Taguchi method speed, layer thickness and scanning interval on sintered parts. Orthogonal experiment was used to analyze the effects of laser power, scanning speed, different molding process parameters on the dimension, warpage and sintering density of the layer thickness interval on sintered. Effects of different epoxy resin systems on mechanical properties of the parts
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