Low Temperature Powder Bed Fusion of Polymers by Means of Fractal Quasi-Simultaneous Exposure Strategies

Powder Bed Fusion of Polymers (PBF-LB/P) is a layer-wise additive manufacturing process that predominantly relies on the quasi-isothermal processing of semi-crystalline polymers, inherently limiting the spectrum of polymers suitable for quasi-isothermal PBF. Within the present paper, a novel approach for extending the isothermal processing window towards significantly lower temperatures by applying the quasi-simultaneous laser-based exposure of fractal scan paths is proposed. The proposed approach is based on the temporal and spatial discretization of the melting and subsequent crystallization of semi-crystalline thermoplastics, hence allowing for the mesoscale compensation of crystallization shrinkage of distinct segments. Using thermographic monitoring, a homogenous temperature increase of discrete exposed sub-segments, limited thermal interference of distinct segments, and the resulting avoidance of curling and warping can be observed. Manufactured parts exhibit a dense and lamellar part morphology with a nano-scale semi-crystalline structure. The presented approach represents a novel methodology that allows for significantly reducing energy consumption, process preparation times and temperature-induced material aging in PBF-LB/P while representing the foundation for the processing of novel, thermo-sensitive material systems in PBF-LB/P.