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In-situ thermal image correlation with mechanical properties of nylon-12 in SLS

William Walker Wroe (Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA)
Jessica Gladstone (Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA)
Tim Phillips (Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA)
Scott Fish (Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA)
Joseph Beaman (Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA)
Austin McElroy (Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA)

Rapid Prototyping Journal

ISSN: 1355-2546

Article publication date: 15 August 2016

476

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to establish a method to verify in real time the quality of a part being built using Selective Laser Sintering (SLS).

Design/methodology/approach

A SLS build of 30 Nylon 12 tensile bars was done while using an infrared camera to record the thermal history of each bar. The thermal history was then compared to the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of each bar. In addition, an attempt was made to identify where the fracture of each bar occurred based on its thermal history.

Findings

Several analysis techniques were used to compare the thermal history of each bar to its UTS. The strongest correlation found was 0.746. In addition, multiple strategies for predicting the break location where used, with the most successful making a correct prediction on 46 per cent of the bars.

Originality/value

This paper studies the feasibility of in-situ build verification, a technique that if successful would greatly help the further adoption of SLS as a method of manufacturing.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work is sponsored by the Air Force Research Lab and General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) under GDIT Prime Contract FA8650-11-D-5702 / 0,009.

Citation

Wroe, W.W., Gladstone, J., Phillips, T., Fish, S., Beaman, J. and McElroy, A. (2016), "In-situ thermal image correlation with mechanical properties of nylon-12 in SLS", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 22 No. 5, pp. 794-800. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-10-2015-0158

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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