Understanding the influence of energy-density on the layer dependent part properties in laser-sintering of PA12

As the demand for individualization and complex parts is continuously growing, laser-sintering of polymers is on the edge from a pure prototyping technology to manufacturing parts for applications in series production. The influences on resulting parts and layer depending part properties are well known in the literature but the understanding of the interaction between process parameters and layer dependent properties is missing and limiting the dimensioning. Within this study, tensile bars with different amounts of layers and energy densities were produced and investigated for the resulting mechanical properties, roughness, density and the degree of particle melt. The results showed a strong interaction between the energy density and amount of layers, which results in differences in the fracture behavior as well as the mechanical properties. Therefore, the presented results enable the prediction of necessary part thickness for dimensioning thin parts with laser-sintering.