A novel process for production of spherical PBT powders and their processing behavior during laser beam melting

Jochen Schmidt, Marius Sachs, Meng Zhao, Stephanie Fanselow, Katrin Wudy, Maximilian Drexler, Dietmar Drummer, Karl Ernst Wirth, Wolfgang Peukert

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Additive manufacturing processes like laser beam melting of polymers are established for production of prototypes and individualized parts. The transfer to other areas of application and to serial production is currently hindered by the limited availability of polymer powders with good processability. Within this contribution a novel process route for the production of spherical polymer micron-sized particles of good flowability has been established and applied to produce polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) powders. Moreover, the applicability of the PBT powders in selective laser beam melting and the dependencies of process parameters on device properties will be outlined. First, polymer micro particles are produced by a novel wet grinding method. To improve the flowability the produced particles the particle shape is optimized by rounding in a heated downer reactor. A further improvement of flowability of the cohesive spherical PBT particles is realized by dry coating. An improvement of flowability by a factor of about 5 is achieved by subsequent rounding of the comminution product and dry-coating as proven by tensile strength measurements of the powders. The produced PBT powders were characterized with respect to their processability. Therefore thermal, rheological, optical and bulk properties were analyzed. Based on these investigations a range of processing parameters was derived. Parameter studies on thin layers, produced in a selective laser melting system, were conducted. Hence appropriate parameters for processing the PBT powders by laser beam melting, like building chamber temperature, scan speed and laser power have been identified.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of PPS 2015
Subtitle of host publicationThe 31st International Conference of the Polymer Processing Society - Conference Papers
EditorsByungohk Rhee
PublisherAmerican Institute of Physics Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9780735413603
DOIs
StatePublished - 9 Mar 2016
Externally publishedYes
Event31st International Conference of the Polymer Processing Society, PPS 2015 - Jeju Island, Korea, Republic of
Duration: 7 Jun 201511 Jun 2015

Publication series

NameAIP Conference Proceedings
Volume1713
ISSN (Print)0094-243X
ISSN (Electronic)1551-7616

Conference

Conference31st International Conference of the Polymer Processing Society, PPS 2015
Country/TerritoryKorea, Republic of
CityJeju Island
Period7/06/1511/06/15

Keywords

  • downer reactor
  • dry coating
  • polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)
  • selective laser beam melting of polymers
  • wet grinding

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