Evaluation of the influences of process parameters while selective laser sintering PMMA powders

Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) is a synthetic resin, widely used for bio-medical applications and is usually mixed with some other ingredients to form a soft substrate, which gradually hardens. Medical implants and other products of different shapes are generated either by moulding while it is still soft or by machining further to hardening. While these methods limit the freedom to achieve the much needed geometrical complexities, porosity also gets adversely affected. Rapid prototyping or additive manufacturing techniques allow for complex shapes to be easily produced together with a degree of control over the porosity. Though fused deposition modelling was attempted earlier with PMMA, more promising approaches such as selective laser sintering attained very little attention in this regard. In particular, the mechanism of material consolidation and the effects of significant process parameters on critical responses need sufficient attention, and this paper attempts this by experimental means.