PROCESSING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NYLON-12 PRODUCED BY SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING (SLS 3D PRINTING)

Abstract

Over the last decade, nanocomposite materials have been widely used in the scientific literature to provide significant properties and improvements. Polyamide 12 is a familiar material for additive applications because of its manufacturability, such as in 3D printing. PA12 is known for its significant properties, such as extreme toughness, impact strength, abrasion resistance, good chemical resistance, good electrical insulation, and lightweight; as well as lower moisture absorption, lower melting point, and lower density compared to standard Nylons. This work will introduce and investigates three different commercial PA12 powders (Sintertac, Formlabs, and Sinterit) for Selective Laser Sintering. All three PA12 powders were examined by characterizing their chemical, mechanical, physical, and processing behavior. Several instruments, experiments, and studies were conducted to characterize the PA12 powders using several techniques such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Tapped density, and Hybrid Rheometer (DHR2, TA Instruments). However, PA12 powders were processed through a Selective Laser Sintering SLS 3D printer to print out ASTM D638-14 Type V specimens. Moreover, a Universal Testing Machine (UTS Instron 5567) to examine the 3D printed specimens