CARBON ASSISTED LASER SINTERING OF THERMOPLASTIC POLYMERS

摘要

Selective laser sintering (SLS) with CO_2 lasers is only used commercially with polyamide (PA) and polystyrene (PS). This is because only these polymers absorb enough energy to melt properly in the SLS process. In a new approach, carbon black is added to the thermoplastic polymer powder. Carbon is sensitive to the wave length of Nd:YAG lasers and can absorb enough energy that adjacent polymer melts. In this paper a feasibility study of this new method is presented. As an example the sintering behaviour of the high temperature resistant polymer polyether ketone (PEK) is shown.