Experimental analysis and modeling of local ageing effects during laser sintering of polyamide 12 in regard to individual thermal histories

Polymer laser sintering (LS) is an important additive manufacturing (AM) technology. Individual and complex parts are directly produced from CAD data without the need of specific tools. The raw material is a polymer powder, which is deposited layerwise and melted selectively with a laser. Built parts are embedded in residual unmolten powder, the so-called part cake, which undergoes thermal ageing effects due to the exposure to high temperatures for long times during the manufacturing process. Hence, the recyclability of the unmolten powder is limited. This article focuses on a fundamental analysis of the ageing kinetics dependent on time, temperature, and oxygen content in the gas atmosphere. A model is developed and applied to measured, position-dependent process temperature histories to successfully predict the ageing distribution within a part cake. The results can be used to optimize the thermal process management in LS and to develop new efficient powder recycling methods.