Geometrical analysis and tensile behaviour of parts manufactured with flame retardant polymers by additive manufacturing. Issue 1 (16th January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Borille, Anderson Vicente; Gomes, Jefferson de Oliveira; Lopes, Daniel
• Is Part Of: Rapid prototyping journal. Volume 23:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 169
• Page End: 180
• Publication Date: 2017-01-16
• Subjects: FDM -- Tensile strength -- Flame-retardant materials -- Geometrical analysis -- SLS; Engineering design -- Periodicals; 620.004205
• DOI: 10.1108/RPJ-09-2015-0130
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1355-2546

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: Flame-retardant plastics are used in critical applications, such as aircraft interior parts, when the occurrence of fire can lead to serious injury to people. However, there is a lack of related publications. The purpose of this study is to present experimental data regarding geometrical analysis, such as dimensional accuracy and surface roughness, tensile strength and elongation of parts manufactured with flame-retardant materials by additive manufacturing. Design/methodology/approach: Two additive manufacturing processes, selective laser sintering (SLS) and fused deposition modeling (FDM), were selected to manufacture the parts to be evaluated. Each process used its respective polymer, that is polyamide with flame-retardant additive (PA) for SLS and polyphenylsulfone (PPSF) for FDM. The samples consist of tensile specimens and representative parts of different products. Tensile tests were performed using standard tensile test machines, and geometrical analyses were performed using coordinate measuring machine as well as surface roughness tester. Findings: As each material can be, in commercial machines, produced by only one process, the material selection for final products has to consider the manufacturing process as well. In general, although the FDM/PPSF process provided specimens with the highest ultimate strength, because of its strong influence by the building direction, FDM/PPSF also provided the lowest strength. SLS/PA was able to provide average strength with less dependency on the build-up direction. The geometrical analysis showed that SLS/PA presents a much smoother surface, but FDM/PPSF presented slightly better dimensional accuracy. Originality/value: There is still lack of publications on polymers with flame resistance or flame-retardant polymers. Thus, this paper brings new technical information about processing such materials.