Mechanical properties of PA6/PA12 blend specimens prepared by selective laser sintering

The use of polymeric blends can increase the range of structures and properties of selective laser sintering (SLS) parts. This study investigates the processing of a binary polar system using polyamide 6 (PA6) and polyamide 12 (PA12) by SLS. The mixture composition and processing conditions, and their influence on the dynamic mechanical properties of the specimens manufactured were evaluated. The maximum tan δ values suggest that PA6 and PA12 have similar visco-dissipative behavior. The PA6/PA12 blends behavior varied according to the relaxation phenomena of the pure components, proportionally to the blend composition. The creep test showed that blends with a higher amount of PA6 had greater plastic deformation and less elastic recovery. In the fatigue test the 20/80 and 50/50 blends presented good fatigue resistance under the test conditions.