Thermal Influence of CNT on the Polyamide 12 Nanocomposite for Selective Laser Sintering

• Main Authors: Bai, Jiaming, Goodridge, Ruth D., Yuan, Shangqin, Zhou, Kun, Chua, Chee Kai, Wei, Jun
• Other Authors: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Selective laser sintering; Thermal influence; Numerical simulation; Polymer nanocomposites
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/81070; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/39110
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The thermal influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the PA12 in the laser sintering process was assessed by physical experiments and a three dimensional simulation model. It appears that, by adding the CNTs into the PA12 matrix, the thermal conductivity increased. A double ellipsoidal heat flux model was applied to input a three dimensional, continuous moving, volumetric laser heat source. The predicted three dimensional temperature distributions suggested that the laser heat was conducted wider and deeper in the PA12-CNT sample than PA12. Greater heat conduction can reduce the interspace between two successive layers, and result in the increase of the parts’ density and properties.