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Evaluation of CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers for the selective laser sintering of HAPEX®

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journal contribution
posted on 2009-05-21, 13:32 authored by M.M. Savalani, L. Hao, Russell Harris
This paper evaluates and compares the performance of a CO2 and Nd:YAG laser for the selective laser sintering (SLS) of a commercial hydroxyapatite reinforced polyethylene (HA-HDPE) bioactive ceramic polymer composite material. Single-line and layer specimens were produced to compare the effects of different lasers on the material sintering. It was found that the processing window was much larger for the CO2 laser as compared to the Nd:YAG laser. Furthermore, the Nd:YAG processing window was highly dependent on the pulse width and pulse repetition rate parameter settings. Furthermore, the processing windows for both the laser systems were affected by the particle size of the HA-HDPE powders. The degree and mechanism of particle fusion existing in the composites layers were greatly influenced by the laser source and particle size. The results presented in this work clearly indicate that the CO2 laser would present a better performance than the Nd:YAG laser for the SLS of HAPEX® in terms of operation range, speed, processing efficiency, and, subsequently, greater potential as an SLS processing method for bioactive implant products.

History

School

  • Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Citation

SAVALANI, M.M., HAO, L. and HARRIS, R.A., 2006. Evaluation of CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers for the selective laser sintering of HAPEX® . Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 220 (2), pp. 171-182

Publisher

Professional Engineering Publishing / © IMechE

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publication date

2006

Notes

This is an article from the journal, Proceedings of the IMechE, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture [© IMechE]. It is also available at: http://journals.pepublishing.com/content/119784/?p=710e956435344e5bb554ce59223c763c&pi=0

ISSN

0954-4054

Language

  • en