Selective laser sintering (SLS) technology produces a substantial amount of un-sintered polyamide 12 powders after the manufacturing process. Failure to recycle and reuse these aged powders not only leads to economic losses but also is environmentally unfriendly. This is particularly problematic for powder particles close to the heat-affected zones that go through severe thermal degradations during the laser sintering processes. Limited procedures exist for systematically reusing such extremely aged powders. This work proposes a systematic method to maximize reusability of aged and extremely aged polyamide 12 powders. Building on a previously untapped interlayer heating, pre-processing, and a systematic mixing of powder materials, we show how reclaimed polyamide 12 powders can be consistently reprinted into functional samples, with mechanical properties even superior to current industrial norms. In particular, the proposed method can yield printed samples with 18.04% higher tensile strength and 55.29% larger elongation at break using as much as 30% of extremely aged powders compared to the benchmark sample.
While laser-printed metals do not tend to match the mechanical properties and thermal stability of conventionally-processed metals, incorporating and dispersing nanoparticles in them should enhance their performance. However, this remains difficult to do during laser additive manufacturing. Here, we show that aluminum reinforced by nanoparticles can be deposited layer-by-layer via laser melting of nanocomposite powders, which enhance the laser absorption by almost one order of magnitude compared to pure aluminum powders. The laser printed nanocomposite delivers a yield strength of up to 1000 MPa, plasticity over 10%, and Young’s modulus of approximately 200 GPa, offering one of the highest specific Young’s modulus and specific yield strengths among structural metals, as well as an improved specific strength and thermal stability up to 400 °C compared to other aluminum-based materials. The improved performance is attributed to a high density of well-dispersed nanoparticles, strong interfacial bonding between nanoparticles and Al matrix, and ultrafine grain sizes.
- Publication Date:
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10154028
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Volume:
- 10
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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