Citation: Vande Ryse, R.; Edeleva, M.;
Van Stichel, O.; D’hooge, D.R.; Pille,
F.; Fiorio, R.; De Baets, P.; Cardon, L.
Setting the Optimal Laser Power for
Sustainable Powder Bed Fusion
Processing of Elastomeric Polyesters:
A Combined Experimental and
Theoretical Study. Materials 2022, 15,
385. https://doi.org/10.3390/
ma15010385
Academic Editor: Jun Liu
Received: 8 November 2021
Accepted: 31 December 2021
Published: 5 January 2022
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional affil-
iations.
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
Article
Setting the Optimal Laser Power for Sustainable Powder Bed
Fusion Processing of Elastomeric Polyesters: A Combined
Experimental and Theoretical Study
Ruben Vande Ryse
1
, Mariya Edeleva
2
, Ortwijn Van Stichel
1
, Dagmar R. D’hooge
2,3
, Frederik Pille
4
,
Rudinei Fiorio
1
, Patrick De Baets
5
and Ludwig Cardon
1,
*
1
Centre for Polymer and Material Technologies (CPMT), Department of Materials,
Textiles and Chemical Engineering, Ghent University, Technologiepark 130, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium;
Ruben.VandeRyse@ugent.be (R.V.R.); cpmt@ugent.be (O.V.S.); rudinei.fiorio@UGent.be (R.F.)
2
Laboratory for Chemical Technology (LCT), Department of Materials, Textiles and Chemical Engineering,
Ghent University, Technologiepark 125, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium; mariya.edeleva@ugent.be (M.E.);
dagmar.dhooge@ugent.be (D.R.D.)
3
Centre for Textiles Science and Engineering (CTSE), Department of Materials, Textiles and Chemical
Engineering, Ghent University, Technologiepark 70A, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium
4
Department of Surgery and Anaesthesiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University,
Saliburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium; frederik.pille@ugent.be
5
Soete Laboratory, Departement of Electromechanical, Systems and Metal Engineering, Ghent University,
Technologiepark 46, 9052 Zwijnaarde, Belgium; Patrick.DeBaets@UGent.be
* Correspondence: ludwig.cardon@ugent.be
Abstract:
Additive manufacturing (AM) of polymeric materials offers many benefits, from rapid
prototyping to the production of end-use material parts. Powder bed fusion (PBF), more specifically
selective laser sintering (SLS), is a very promising AM technology. However, up until now, most
SLS research has been directed toward polyamide powders. In addition, only basic models have
been put forward that are less directed to the identification of the most suited operating conditions
in a sustainable production context. In the present combined experimental and theoretical study,
the impacts of several SLS processing parameters (e.g., laser power, part bed temperature, and
layer thickness) are investigated for a thermoplastic elastomer polyester by means of colorimetric,
morphological, physical, and mechanical analysis of the printed parts. It is shown that an optimal
SLS processing window exists in which the printed polyester material presents a higher density
and better mechanical properties as well as a low yellowing index, specifically upon using a laser
power of
17–20 W
. It is further highlighted that the current models are not accurate enough at
predicting the laser power at which thermal degradation occurs. Updated and more fundamental
equations are therefore proposed, and guidelines are formulated to better assess the laser power
for degradation and the maximal temperature achieved during sintering. This is performed by
employing the reflection and absorbance of the laser light and taking into account the particle size
distribution of the powder material.
Keywords: laser sintering; additive manufacturing; 3D printing; energy density; degradation
1. Introduction
Polymeric additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are relatively recent, and their
development is growing steadily. AM has mainly been used as rapid prototyping tech-
nology, but its application in manufacturing of customized end-use polymeric parts in
small-series production is growing [
1
–
4
]. AM is a general term applied for describing
production technologies that rely on the addition of material in a layer-by-layer fashion,
which is opposed to the more commonly used subtractive production methods such as
turning, milling, or drilling [5,6].
Materials 2022, 15, 385. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15010385 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials
