Development of an Experimental Laser Sintering Machine to Process New Materials Like Nylon 6

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is an Additive Manufacturing technology which allows the production of functional polymer parts. Conventionally, Nylon 12 (PA 12), Polyamide 11 (PA 11), glass- or aluminum filled materials are used. Those materials do not always meet the requirements for direct production of serial parts by laser sintering. For the so called “Direct Manufacturing” of high quality, functional parts, the laser sintering process needs to be further developed and the choice of materials and needs to be expanded. During this research, a laser sintering machine for material qualification has been built up. The advantages are an optimized software solution, an innovative optical system with an adjustable laserspot, an alternative powder coating system and an improved temperature control. The functionality of the test equipment is proved with the standard material PA2200 and the new laser-sintering-material, Polyamide 6X (PA6X) is investigated. The required process parameters for processing PA6X are derived and the mechanical properties are determined by tensile tests.