Density of laser molten polymer parts as function of powder coating process during additive manufacturing

Mechanical and geometrical properties of parts produced by selective beam melting of thermoplastic powders depend on a large extend on interactions between following process and material parameters: Powder coating, geometry exposure and material behavior in solid and molten state. Consequently for demands of series production critical process repeatability only can be improved by fundamental studies of mentioned interactions. The following article analyzes first part density distribution for varying exposure parameters. In a second step results are correlated with typical parameters of the powder coating process during additive part generation. Furthermore part volume as well as part weight are taken into account. Result is a basic understanding of interactions between considered parameters. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.