The Influence of Selected Selective Laser Sintering Technology Process Parameters on Stress Relaxation, Mass of Models, and Their Surface Texture Quality

The article presents the results of research on the impact of basic process parameters of selective laser sintering technology on the mass of the produced models (density of the sintered material-polyamide PA 2200), stress relaxation during compression determined in accordance with the ISO 3384 standard, and geometric surface structure parameters (SGPs). During the tests, the influence of process parameters such as the location of the models on the virtual construction platform (printing direction), the density of the energy supplied to the sintered layer of powder, and the layer thickness of the manufactured material layer was taken into account. The test results confirmed that the process parameters have a significant impact on the density of the model material (in the sintered state), the mechanical properties (stress relaxation during compression), and the quality of the surface texture (SGPs). The most favorable positioning variants of the models on the construction platform were determined. The most favorable thickness variants of the combined layers and the density value of the energy supplied to the sintered powder layer were selected, depending on the expected mass, strength, and SGP quality. In addition, it has been shown that it is possible to build models with reduced mass (>20%), while maintaining satisfactory mechanical and qualitative properties of the surface texture.