Laser Assisted Polymer Forming Available to Purchase

In this paper the authors propose a new method for thermoplastic pellet agglomeration, the laser assisted polymer forming (LAPF). It utilises a diode laser for pellet heating and subsequently the forming in a mould. Experimental investigation was performed on thermoplastic pellets, firstly characterised by DSC. Pellet softening was studied in order to evaluate the laser-material interaction during heating. The laser power, the heating time and the pellet support were considered as experimental parameters during testing. Softening curves, together with thermal data, allow to predict the material behaviour during successive moulding. At the end, also direct pellet moulding was performed studying the effect of the moulding phase on the fabricated samples.