The Effect of Aramid Fiber Powder Addition on the Performance of PES/AF Laser-Sintered Components

Abstract

Following pretreatment, aramid fiber (AF) powder was blended with polyether sulfone (PES) resin powder to fabricate a novel composite material compatible with selective laser sintering (SLS). Tensile and bending specimens of polyether sulfone/aramid fiber (PES/AF) composites were fabricated via selective laser sintering. This study examined the effects of aramid fiber content (0‒4 wt %) on microstructure, mechanical properties, density, and surface quality of SLS-fabricated parts. The reinforcement mechanism of AF in the PES matrix was also investigated. Experimental results demonstrate that incorporating appropriate AF content enhances the mechanical properties of PES sintered parts. Specifically, with increasing AF content, tensile strength, flexural strength, and density of PES/AF composites initially increased then decreased, while surface quality progressively deteriorated. At 1 wt % AF content, the tensile strength peaked at 10.59 MPa—an 11.17% increase over pure PES specimens. Flexural strength achieved its peak value (22.88 MPa) at 2 wt % AF, corresponding to a 41.06% enhancement versus pure PES.