Preparation and properties of styrene ethylene butylene styrene / polypropylene thermoplastic elastomer powder for selective laser sintering 3D printing

Abstract

As one of the most important thermoplastic elastomer materials, the application of styrene ethylene butylene styrene (SEBS) in selective laser sintering (SLS) has not been reported. In this study, SEBS and polypropylene (PP) are blended and then pulverized at low temperatures. We find that SEBS with high molecular weight and styrene segment content is difficult to melt and flow under laser irradiation, which is not suitable for SLS 3D printing. SEBS with low molecular weight can be printed, and its tensile properties can reach 2.1Mpa and 134% elongation at break. We test the enhanced absorption effect of two different infrared absorbers and find that graphene (GE) can enhance absorption mainly rely on its special structure to increase the optical path of the laser. The absorption enhancement effect of each enhancer rises first and then decreases. 0.4‰ addition of GE can bring 22.5% enhancement. With the enhancement of GE, we get a product of 2.8 MPa tensile strength and 176% elongation at break.

Additive Manufactured Parts Produced Using Selective Laser Sintering Technology: Comparison between Porosity of Pure and Blended Polymers

“…The utilization of SLS for polymer blends is contingent upon a broad selection of compatible blend constituents. Nevertheless, there have been noteworthy developments in the application of SLS to various polymer blends including PA12/PEEK [69], PA12/HDPE [74], PA12/PBT [73], PA12/PP [72], PBT/PC [71], PMMA/PS [77], PP/POM [76], and SEBS/PP [70]. The data are reported in Table 4.…”

Reducing part deformation of isotactic polypropylene specimens fabricated with powder bed fusion technique through controlling crystallization behaviors

“…14 Optically, polymer materials should have the ability to absorb the laser with a given wavelength effectively, and to acquire enough heat energy to sinter the powder particles together. 15,16 Besides, polymer PBF technique prefers to polymer materials with a wide sintering window (defined as the region between the onset melting temperature and the onset crystallization temperature), which permits enough time for particles in melt state to facilitate good coalescence of powders. Altogether, polymer PBF urgently needs the range of available powder materials to be expanded by conducting extensive research on novel materials.…”

“…Instead, amorphous polymers are difficult to be processed by PBF technique, owing to that their high zero viscosity results in poor coalescence between adjacent particles/layers and eventually highly‐porous and brittle 3D parts 14 . Optically, polymer materials should have the ability to absorb the laser with a given wavelength effectively, and to acquire enough heat energy to sinter the powder particles together 15,16 . Besides, polymer PBF technique prefers to polymer materials with a wide sintering window (defined as the region between the onset melting temperature and the onset crystallization temperature), which permits enough time for particles in melt state to facilitate good coalescence of powders.…”

Computationally Guided DIW Technology to Enable Robust Printing of Inks with Evolving Rheological Properties

“…[22,23] The most common manufacturing techniques of soft responsive polymers based on AM are direct ink writing (DIW), [18,[24][25][26][27][28][29] ink-jet printing (DOD), [30][31][32][33] light-assisted AM, [19,34] and selective laser sintering (SLS). [35,36] Photopolymerization based technologies (SL) have the best resolution. However, the problem with SL is the need of a photocurable silicon.…”