A three-dimensional, continuum mechanical model for additively manufactured polyamide 12

Polyamide 12 (PA12) is a semi-crystalline thermoplastic used in the automotive and aerospace industries due to its high resistance to chemicals and abrasion and its good thermal stability. The material can be processed with various manufacturing technologies, including selective laser sintering (SLS), which offers great potential for industrial production due to its excellent and reproducible mechanical properties and thus motivates a detailed understanding of the mechanical behavior. This paper presents an approach for modeling the mechanical behavior of selectively laser-sintered polyamide 12. A continuum mechanical model is developed based on a comprehensive temperature and velocity-controlled experimental program, and its parameters are identified. After presenting the test specimens developed in-house, which utilized the geometric freedom of the SLS process, the kinematic description of the test specimens and the digital image correlation technique used for this purpose are discussed. The experimental test results are then presented, which consist of relaxation tests and experiments with a constant strain rate at various temperatures. After the two material-theoretical approaches of linear viscoelasticity and endochronic plasticity have been presented, the material model is derived in three dimensions, and the parameters are identified.