Electrically Conductive Polyamide 11 Nanocomposites for Selective Laser Sintering: Properties Characterization

Abstract

Polyamide (nylon) 11 (PA11) is a commonly used material in selective laser sintering (SLS), but it has poor thermal and electrical properties. Previous research has shown that nanoscale additives, such as multi-wall nanotubes (MWNT) and nanographene platelets (NGP) can be combined with PA11 powder to improve these properties. Previous experimentation has dealt with samples that have been fabricated using injection molding and not the SLS process. This paper emphasizes the experimentation of using nanocomposite materials in actual SLS builds. The material used is PA11 pulverized together with low loadings of MWNT and NGP. PA11 that has been twin-screw extruded with MWNT and NGP separately will also be investigated. SLS process parameters will be adjusted to optimize mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of test specimens. The data gathered in this study suggests the MWNT additive was effective at increasing the conductivity of the composite material with minimal losses in mechanical properties.