Effects of process parameters on additive assisted laser sintering of polyetheretherketone

Within the selective laser sintering (SLS) process a layer to layer fusion plays an important role to achieve good bonding and part properties, respectively. This paper deals with the additive assisted laser sintering (ASLS) of polymers, which allows an adjustable sintering depth and independency from the optical absorption behavior of the polymer. Within this study an approach is presented to correlate the observed sintering behavior of polyetheretherketone with process and material parameters. A statistical model has been used to describe a correlation and identify the important parameters and effects within the process.