β-Modification in heterogeneous polypropylene for laser-based powder bed fusion of polymers

Currently, polyamides serve as the primary material used in laser-based powder bed fusion of polymers (PBF-LB/P), which prevents the components from exhibiting the mechanical characteristics of traditional manufacturing techniques. As a result, highly ductile and chemical-resistant materials are needed to cover more potential application areas. The preferred material is polypropylene (PP) with various structures and settings. A common practice in conventional manufacturing processes is adjusting the morphology of the component, but studies examining this type of influence in PBF-LB/P are scarce. In addition to examining important PBF-LB/P process characteristics like thermal properties and powder flow behavior, this work first presents potential nucleation agents and then manufactures components to assess the impact of the structure. It was concluded that processing the material is possible despite significantly higher crystallization kinetics. A parameter study was conducted to evaluate the initial PBF-LB/P processability by building single and triple layers. These results led to the creation of mechanical specimens that showed the material system’s processability. For the first time, it was possible to process β-nucleated PP, which displays increased elongation at break for higher β-content.