Investigating the behavior of laser-sintered Nylon 12 parts subject to dynamic loading

Laser sintering allows producing end-use parts directly from computer files with no tooling required. For these parts to be used in industrial applications, their mechanical properties throughout in-service applications must be examined. The aim of this article is to provide an understanding of the dynamic performance of laser-sintered Nylon 12 parts. To investigate the viscoelastic properties of the material, dynamic thermal mechanical analysis has been performed in different frequencies and temperatures. Tension–tension cyclic behavior of samples has been studied and creep is shown to have a great impact in such behavior in addition to fatigue. Stress relaxation plots are provided and compared with the cyclic loading plots validating the fact that samples experience a combination of creep and fatigue in tension–tension loading. Hysteresis loops indicate brittle crack propagation in the samples experiencing fatigue.