pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: S18 - Special Symposium: Additive Manufacturing for Plastic Components
Keynote Presentation
 
 

SLS 3D printing of Thermoplastic Polyurethane Carbon Nanotubes Nanocomposites

Xia Hesheng (1)*

(1) Sichuan University - Sichuan - China

3D printing, a manufacturing technology with innovation and intelligence, has swept around the world due to its customization and mold-free property. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is one of the most significant 3D printing technologies. It is a powder-based process and manufactures with laser as the power source. On the basis of CAD data, it selectively sinters the powder layer by layer into three dimensional objects. However, one limitation of SLS in a wide-range application is the narrow variety of available polymer materials. Up to date, polyamide 12 (PA-12) is the most commonly used SLS polymer material in commercial application. Other polymers with remarkable property such as PA-11, polystyrene (PS), poly ether ether ketone (PEEK), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) only represent a small fraction [1]. While developing new SLS polymer materials, polymer compounds based on existing polymers have been prepared to enhance the mechanical, thermal and electrical property of SLS products [2][3], of which PA-12 compounds are normally used. In this study, the multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) wrapped TPU powder was successfully prepared and used for SLS 3D printing. A novel approach, i.e. using CNTs-wrapped TPU composited powder, combined with the SLS 3D print technology, was proposed and used to construct electrical conductive nanocomposite with segregated conductive network. The TPU/CNTs nanocomposite obtained by our approach has much higher electrical conductivity and lower percolation than those by conventional extrusion and injection molding. Also the 3D printed sheet shows good flexibility, which can be stretched, bended and twisted.