New materials for 3D printing

Abstract

This report is a master thesis conducted at Division of Product Development, Department of Design Sciences, Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University. Two new polymer materials, Capa™ and Akestra™, were proven to be suitable candidates for two 3D printing technologies. The two technologies were selective laser sintering (SLS) and fused deposition modeling (FDM). Sintratec Kit and UP 3D, two commercially available printers, were used in this thesis. In SLS the polymer is used as a grinded powder whereas for FDM the polymer is used as filaments. For SLS a factorial design experiment matrix was designed to find processing window and optimal run parameters in an empirical method. Adding graphite powder to the polymer powders was found to enable printing with the specific system. Print quality of SLS prints in Capa™ 6500 and Akestra™ 110 was comparable with the commercial PA 12 material native of the printing system. The powders were also investigated with optical microscopy and compared to powders available on the market. Powder quality was the limiting factor when developing Capa™ and Akestra™ for SLS. For FDM, optimal nozzle temperature was pursued for Akestra™ 90 by trial and error experiments. Prints from Akestra™ 90 filaments used in FDM matched the print quality of commercial ABS. The properties of the two polymers differ from standard polymers used in 3D printing today, adding new possibilities to the field and thus giving more choices to the user. This project has been a collaboration with the company Perstorp AB. (Less)