Powder Spread Flaws in Polymer Laser Sintering and its Influences on Mechanical Performance

By monitoring the recoating process within polymer laser sintering production, it was shown that multiple powder-spread-flaws can be detected. Those groove-like flaws are expected to be the result of agglomerates jamming between the recoater and the last powder layer. This work is analyzing the interaction between powder-spread-flaws and part properties, showing the influence of the recoating process on the performance of laser sintering parts. Therefore, artificial powder-spread-flaws are applied to the build jobs of tensile test specimens which are measured and analyzed regarding the elongation at break, strength and fracture position. For the characteristics of the flaws, the artificial grooves are varied in depth and width. Furthermore, the position of the flaw is changed form mid part to close to surface areas. It was shown, that several flaws are visible at the part surface, resulting in stress concentration and reduced performance. But there are as well parts with flaw-layers, which are not visible after the build process on the part. Those parts can have significantly reduced mechanical properties as well.