Laser-Based Polishing of Additively Manufactured PA12 and PAEK Polymer Components Using a Robotic System.
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| Title: | Laser-Based Polishing of Additively Manufactured PA12 and PAEK Polymer Components Using a Robotic System. |
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| Authors: | Uluz, Emrah1,2 (AUTHOR) emrah.uluz@ilt.fraunhofer.de, Metz, Leander1,2,3 (AUTHOR), Hedwig, Lukas3 (AUTHOR), Bremen, Sebastian1,3 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Polymers (20734360). May2026, Vol. 18 Issue 9, p1106. 18p. |
| Subjects: | Selective laser sintering, Surface roughness, Surface finishing, Three-dimensional printing, Autonomous robots, Fused deposition modeling, Nylon, Polyether ether ketone |
| Abstract: | A non-contact laser polishing method for additively manufactured polymer components with complex three-dimensional geometries is presented, employing a 6-axis robotic system. Robot-guided sample orientation, a quasi-top-hat scanning strategy, and closed-loop temperature control are combined to address curved geometries. On Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)-manufactured Polyamide 12 (PA12) tensile samples with three build orientations and two thicknesses, laser polishing yields up to a 15% increase in tensile strength (Rm) and a 50% increase in elongation at break (A). For 45°-built 5 mm samples, Rm increases from 31.53 MPa to 36.33 MPa and A from 6.52% to 9.8%, approaching the tensile strength reported for optimally oriented SLS-printed PA12 Smooth samples of the same grade. For convex–concave PA12 demonstrators, areal roughness (Sa) on convex surfaces is reduced from 33.6 µm to 2.7 µm (approximately 92%) and the high-pass-filtered micro-roughness (SaHP) on concave surfaces by 98.2% to 0.15 µm. For Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)-printed Polyaryletherketone (PAEK) samples, Sa is reduced from 28.35 µm to 4.1 µm and SaHP from 15.98 µm to 0.23 µm (98.6%), despite the high melting temperature and anisotropic raster topography. These results demonstrate that robotic laser polishing constitutes a viable post-processing approach for functionally demanding polymer applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Engineering Source |
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