Eutectic In Situ Modification of Polyamide 12 Processed through Laser-Based Powder Bed Fusion

Laser-based powder bed fusion (LPBF) of polymers allows for the additive manufacturing of dense components with high mechanical properties. Due to inherent limitations of present material systems suitable for LPBF of polymers and required high processing temperatures, the present paper investigates the in situ modification of material systems using powder blending of p-aminobenzoic acid and aliphatic polyamide 12, followed by subsequent laser-based additive manufacturing. Prepared powder blends exhibit a considerable reduction of required processing temperatures dependent on the fraction of p-aminobenzoic acid, allowing for the processing of polyamide 12 at a build chamber temperature of 141.5 °C. An elevated fraction of 20 wt% of p-aminobenzoic acid allows for obtaining a considerably increased elongation at break of 24.65% ± 2.87 while exhibiting a reduced ultimate tensile strength. Thermal investigations demonstrate the influence of the thermal material history on thermal properties, associated with the suppression of low-melting crystalline fractions, yielding amorphous material properties of the previously semi-crystalline polymer. Based on complementary infrared spectroscopic analysis, the increased presence of secondary amides can be observed, indicating the influence of both covalently bound aromatic groups and hydrogen-bound supramolecular structures on emerging material properties. The presented approach represents a novel methodology for the energy-efficient in situ preparation of eutectic polyamides, potentially allowing for the manufacturing of tailored material systems with adapted thermal, chemical, and mechanical properties.