Review on the modeling of the laser sintering process for Polyamide 12

One of the most promising additive manufacturing techniques is selective laser sintering (SLS) of thermoplastic materials. However, the materials successfully applicable to laser sintering (LS) are very limited today. In this study the exceptional position of polyamide 12 powders is underlined. Several numerical and experimental studies have been carried out to make comparisons between the use of powdered materials for polyamide 12 and other types of polymers during the SLS process. The complexity of this process and the interaction between the different phenomena involved has not been fully understood. In this work we highlight the different models of the selective laser sintering of polyamide 12 as well as their different results in order to better understand the functioning of this process.