Laser Sintering Design Guidelines for media transmitting Components

In automotive and other fields of application media-carrying components often have complex, flow-optimized geometries and are made of plastics for reasons of weight and cost. Therefore, the laser sintering technology is predestinated to manufacture these components as it offers a very high degree of design freedom and good mechanical properties. For industrial applications the long-term properties of the SLS material in contact with liquid media are important and were therefore investigated for PA12, PP and PA613. Hereby, different media such as motor oil or Glysantin based coolant were tested with different temperatures and immersion times of up to 26 weeks. The mechanical properties were tested after immersion and compared to injection molded samples. Furthermore, laser sintering design guidelines for media-carrying components were developed. These guidelines for instance include the minimum wall thickness to ensure media tightness and the removal of powder from channels with a high length to diameter ratio.