Consideration of part deformation in laser sintering of polymers without using process window

Consideration of part deformation in laser sintering of polymers without using process window | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Consideration of part deformation in laser sintering of polymers without using process window Takashi Kigure, Yuki Yamauchi, Toshiki Niino This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9372904/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Laser sintering (LS) is an additive manufacturing process that produces parts by selectively fusing a polymer powder bed using laser irradiation. LS conducted at a powder bed temperature below the recrystallization temperature, referred to as the low-temperature process, offers advantages such as reduced thermal degradation of the material and an expanded range of compatible materials. However, the shrinkage behavior of low-temperature process significantly differs from that of conventional LS due to differences in the preheating temperature of the powder bed. Consequently, this hinders the direct application of conventional shape compensation strategies, and there is a need for a dedicated deformation prediction model. Metal-based powder bed fusion (metal PBF) exhibits similar characteristics, that recrystallization is initiated immediately after the heating beam has passed, and several commercial simulation tools are available to predict the deformation. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether the approaches developed for metal PBF can be directly applied to low-temperature polymer process, given the large differences in the material properties. This study investigated stress evolution and deformation induced by shrinkage during the build process in low-temperature process, with emphasis on identifying the similarities and differences relative to metal PBF. The results showed that the residual stresses after low-temperature process were substantially lower than those in metal PBF. In contrast, the strain and resulting deformation were more pronounced in low-temperature process. The findings indicated that deformation should be the primary focus in the development of prediction models for low-temperature process rather than the residual stress-centric prediction models typically used for metal PBF. Polymer based powder bed fusion Laser sintering Polymer Shrinkage Deformation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9372904","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":629195991,"identity":"83fd4e25-d1f3-4ee9-8c69-881e6665604b","order_by":0,"name":"Takashi Kigure","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Tokyo metropolitan industrial technology research institute","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Takashi","middleName":"","lastName":"Kigure","suffix":""},{"id":629196015,"identity":"d687a098-7c41-487a-bbe6-130a61217298","order_by":1,"name":"Yuki Yamauchi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tokyo metropolitan industrial technology research institute","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yuki","middleName":"","lastName":"Yamauchi","suffix":""},{"id":629196017,"identity":"e19f0e8e-ce24-41f9-b37f-e4f0471b3d2d","order_by":2,"name":"Toshiki Niino","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Toshiki","middleName":"","lastName":"Niino","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-09 23:53:15","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9372904/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9372904/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108242113,"identity":"34f1dc8c-c4ca-49b2-8059-34f7f3aa2ef4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-30 21:10:44","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1023259,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscriptver0.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9372904/v1_covered_5f7c4053-260a-4b82-b750-be38f98493be.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Consideration of part deformation in laser sintering of polymers without using process window","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Polymer based powder bed fusion, Laser sintering, Polymer, Shrinkage, Deformation","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9372904/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9372904/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eLaser sintering (LS) is an additive manufacturing process that produces parts by selectively fusing a polymer powder bed using laser irradiation. LS conducted at a powder bed temperature below the recrystallization temperature, referred to as the low-temperature process, offers advantages such as reduced thermal degradation of the material and an expanded range of compatible materials. However, the shrinkage behavior of low-temperature process significantly differs from that of conventional LS due to differences in the preheating temperature of the powder bed. Consequently, this hinders the direct application of conventional shape compensation strategies, and there is a need for a dedicated deformation prediction model. Metal-based powder bed fusion (metal PBF) exhibits similar characteristics, that recrystallization is initiated immediately after the heating beam has passed, and several commercial simulation tools are available to predict the deformation. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether the approaches developed for metal PBF can be directly applied to low-temperature polymer process, given the large differences in the material properties.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis study investigated stress evolution and deformation induced by shrinkage during the build process in low-temperature process, with emphasis on identifying the similarities and differences relative to metal PBF. The results showed that the residual stresses after low-temperature process were substantially lower than those in metal PBF. In contrast, the strain and resulting deformation were more pronounced in low-temperature process. 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