A facile one step route that introduces functionality to polymer powders for laser sintering

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering
• Additive Manufacturing

Background:

• Polyamide-12 (PA-12) dominates laser sintering (LS) additive manufacturing (AM) due to its processability.
• Current PA-12 materials in LS have limited color options and are prone to biofouling.
• There is a need for cost-effective methods to enhance PA-12 functionality for AM applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a facile, clean, and scalable method for functionalizing PA-12.
• To introduce desirable properties like color and anti-biofouling capabilities to PA-12 objects.
• To enable the use of functionalized PA-12 in commercial additive manufacturing apparatus.

Main Methods:

• Utilized supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) as a medium for material modification.
• Employed free radical polymerizations to graft functionalities onto PA-12.
• Demonstrated the processability of functionalized PA-12 using standard laser sintering equipment.

Main Results:

• Successfully created colored PA-12 materials via the scCO2-mediated functionalization process.
• Developed PA-12 materials with demonstrated anti-biofouling properties.
• The functionalized PA-12 materials are compatible with existing commercial laser sintering printers.

Conclusions:

• The developed approach offers an inexpensive and scalable route to functionalize PA-12 for additive manufacturing.
• This method significantly expands the potential applications of PA-12 in 3D printing by overcoming limitations in color and biofouling.
• The functionalization technique holds promise for advancing the capabilities of additive manufacturing.