Infrared monitoring of modified hatching strategies for laser sintering of polymers

摘要

In laser sintering of polymers, the exposure strategy, consisting of hatching strategy, laser power and scan speed determines the final properties. In polymer processing, mainly the meander hatching strategy is applied, which leads to geometry-dependent part properties at supposedly identical processing parameters due to overlay effects of temperature fields. Within this work, different hatching strategies, originating from laser beam melting of metals are investigated to overcome the limitations of laser sintering of polymers. The processability is evaluated characterizing single- and multi-layer parts. A direct correlation between the predominant temperature fields resulting from different hatching strategies and the resulting part properties, such as surface topology or part height, could be evidenced. These results contribute to the understanding of the impact of hatching strategy on the laser sintering process and should be considered in the future development of geometry-invariant processing strategies.