Capabilities and Limitations of Using Desktop 3-D Printers in the Laser Sintering Process

Abstract

Almost one-third of the revenues of the Additive Manufacturing (AM) machines market is generated by desktop systems. A new category of such devices are Laser Sintering (LS) machines, in which we can find a few representatives of this group. A growing interest in the use of desktop AM solutions in research and industry is visible, and therefore an evaluation of its capabilities and limitations is desirable. The presented paper focuses on comparing desktop (Sintratec S1; Sinterit Lisa) and industrial (Formiga P110) LS systems. The properties of raw materials were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), as well as by determining the Particle Size Distribution (PSD) and static and dynamic flowability of powder. Laser Sintering commercial sets were characterized by their mechanical properties (tensile strength), surface quality (roughness), as well as by their accuracy and porosity (computed tomography). The conducted test showed significant differences, especially in the case of material properties and manufacturing repeatability. The found differences between desktop and industrial LS systems suggest that the use of a low-budget LS system, especially for the research and production of end-use parts, has to take into account its limitations.

Evaluation of Inconel 718 Metallic Powder to Optimize the Reuse of Powder and to Improve the Performance and Sustainability of the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) Process

“…Polymer-based PBF, due to its thermal degradation, has a low level of powder recyclability. The powder that is not used to produce parts should be mixed before each process using a system- and material-specific virgin-to-used powder ratio [ 6 ]. Metal PBF, however, has a high powder recyclability, as metals are characterized by a slower degradation during the PBF process [ 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”

Investigation of porosity behavior in SLS polyamide-12 samples using ex-situ X-ray computed tomography

“…Although the SLS process is characterized by high efficiency when compared to other AM methods, it is not without its drawbacks. The main disadvantages of the described technology include the anisotropy of their mechanical properties [11], as well as their porosity, which is related to the in-layer and between-layer sintering mechanisms [12]. There is a significant number of publications which describe the characteristics of manufactured elements with regard to the evaluation of process parameters (power, energy, temperature) and scanning strategies based on the verification of porosity [6][7][8] or mechanical properties of the produced test samples [13,14].…”

Selective Laser Sintering of PA 2200 for Hip Implant Applications: Finite Element Analysis, Process Optimization, Morphological and Mechanical Characterization

“…The effects of the design parameters, such as the radial clearance, the bone quality, the coefficient of friction, and the cup–bone interface, on the contact mechanics at the bearing surfaces could be important for the clinical performance and long-term survival of the prosthesis [ 52 ]. The results of the contact pressure ( Figure 7 d) can be compared to those obtained by other researchers that performed a comparison between two polyethylene acetabular cups with different dimensions (36 mm and 40 mm), for which they obtained a range of contact pressure between 8.2 and 60.4 MPa [ 7 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ].…”