Sunteți pe pagina 1din 10

Effect of the orientation on the fatigue crack

growth of polyamide 12 manufactured


by selective laser sintering
Alberto J. Cano, Alicia Salazar and Jesús Rodríguez
DIMME, Grupo de Durabilidad e Integridad Mecánica de Materiales Estructurales, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain

Abstract
Purpose – Polyamide 12 (PA12) properties meet specific requirements for various applications in the automotive and aerospace industries. Bulk
specimens made of PA12 and processed via the additive manufacturing technique such as selective laser sintering (SLS) present a layered structure.
In case of structural applications, the fatigue performance of SLS PA12 parts is of vital importance and fatigue response studies in these type of
materials are still scarce. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of the applied load orientation on the fatigue crack propagation
behaviour of the layered structure of SLS PA12.
Design/methodology/approach – With the aim of understanding the effect of the applied load with respect to the layer orientation on the fatigue
crack growth of SLS PA12, fatigue crack growth tests were carried out at two orientations. The specimens called PARA were orientated in such a
way that the applied force direction belongs to the layer plane while in the group called PERP, the tensile force direction is coincident with the build
direction, that is, perpendicular to the slice. Besides, special attention has been paid to the analysis of the fracture surfaces of the specimens, linking
the micromechanisms of failure with the microstructure of the material.
Findings – The SLS PA12 specimens tested with the load applied parallel to the layered structure show a little better fatigue response than those
tested at perpendicular orientation. The fracture surfaces of the specimens tested at perpendicular orientation are slightly smoother than those
tested at parallel orientation. Crazes are the main micromechanism of failure with a crater size of 50 microns, which coincide with the spherulite
size. This indicates that the void nucleation of the crazes takes places between lamellae inside the spherulites, and consequently, the craze growth
and rupture occurs mainly in a transspherulitic mode.
Originality/value – PA12 parts manufactured via SLS are becoming more valuable in structural elements in the automative and aeronatical fields. In such
applications, fatigue performance is vital for design. Fatigue studies are scarce in literature and even more when dealing with fatigue crack growth
behaviour. The value of this work is the analysis of the fatigue crack growth response of these materials taking into account the anisotropic microstructure
and to get a better understanding, this behaviour is explained taking into account the micromechanisms of failure and the microstructure of the material.
Keywords Selective laser sintering, Polyamide 12, Orientation, Fatigue crack propagation
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction mechanical properties very close to those obtained from


specimens processed by conventional manufacturing processes
Automotive and aerospace industries are in pursuit of the
such as injection moulding (Caulfield et al., 2007; Starr et al.,
production of lightweight structures to reduce fuel
2011). Selective laser sintering (SLS) processes can generate
consumption while maintaining safety and comfort standards.
complex 3 D parts through a laser scanning the surface of a
The way to face this challenge is using materials of less weight
layer of preheated powder to sinter the particles to fuse and
but similar performance (composites, polymers) or using
form the parts. Among the wide range of polymeric materials,
alternative designs. The latter implies complex structures
Polyamide 12 (PA12) properties meet specific requirements for
clearly dependant on the capability of the manufacturing
various applications in the automotive and aerospace industries
process to get the end products. Recently, additive
manufacturing (AM) technologies are becoming viable for (Page, 2001; McKeen, 2010; Paesano, 2016; Castillo Acero,
producing parts with complex geometry in reduced time and 2017; Happian-Smith, 2001). Specifically, Polyamides provide
with no tooling requirements in different technological and high impact resistance, elongation to break, and fatigue
industrial sectors (Stöcker, 2002; Noorani, 2005; Fox, 2006). endurance, associated with moderate cost (Paesano, 2016). In
Among these layer-wise technologies, laser sintering (LS) is an these applications, parts made of this material are submitted to
AM process that allows building polymeric parts with dynamic loading in service, either applied directly or indirectly
through the interaction of the entire structure with the
surrounding environment (Paesano, 2016; Castillo Acero, 2017;
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/1355-2546.htm
The authors are indebted to Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of
Spain for their financial support through project DPI2016-80389-C2-1-R.
Rapid Prototyping Journal
25/5 (2019) 820–829 Received 27 September 2018
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1355-2546] Revised 20 December 2018
[DOI 10.1108/RPJ-09-2018-0255] Accepted 7 January 2019

820
Orientation on the fatigue crack growth Rapid Prototyping Journal
Alberto J. Cano, Alicia Salazar and Jesús Rodríguez Volume 25 · Number 5 · 2019 · 820–829

Happian-Smith, 2001). The research on the effect of the build Finally, Salazar et al. applied the Fracture Mechanics approach
parameters and build orientation on the mechanical properties of to analyse the effect of the temperature and the reinforcement
LS PA12 obtained through tensile and flexural tests has been in the fatigue crack growth of SLS PA12 (Salazar et al., 2014a)
extensively studied (Fox, 2006; Caulfield et al., 2007; Starr et al., and to determine the differences in the fatigue crack growth
2011; Zarringhalam et al., 2006; Drummer et al., 2010; Dupin behaviour of petrol-based SLS PA12 and bio-based SLS PA11
et al., 2012; Stichel et al., 2017; Dizon et al., 2018). In all these (Salazar et al., 2014b). Despite the inherent anisotropic nature
studies, the z-axis or printing orientation of polyamide has the of the stratified SLS process can suppose a major limitation,
lowest strength and elongation at break. Similarly, some only Munguia and Dalgarno (2015) and Blattmeier et al.
literature is found regarding the fracture properties of LS PA12. (2012) have treated this issue. In the first case, the orientation
Seltzer et al. (2011) analysed the effect of water conditioning on did not seem to influence the fatigue behaviour obtained in
the fracture behaviour of PA12 and PA12 composites reinforced unnotched specimens, while in the second one, no concluding
with glass beads and short glass fibers. The results showed that results were attained. Therefore, the focus of this work is to
water conditioning affected more drastically to the unreinforced provide an understanding of the layer orientation to the applied
material than to the composites. Hitt et al. (2011) compared the load on the fatigue crack growth of SLS PA12. Special
fracture resistance of SLS and injection moulding PA12 parts as a attention will be paid to analysis of the fracture surfaces of the
function of the specimen thickness. The values obtained from the specimens tested at different load orientations.
samples manufactured from the two different processing
techniques ranged between 3 and 5 kJ/m2. The crack growth
2. Experimental procedure
energy of injection moulded specimens decreased with the
specimen thickness while the opposite trend occurred for LS 2.1 Materials
samples. Brugo et al. (2016) evaluated the effect of the PA12-based materials suitable for SLS fabrication were used.
orientation of the crack of the fracture specimens respect to the The PA12 powder belongs to EOS family with commercial
building direction and the notch sharpening method on names PA2200 for the neat PA12 with a narrow size
the fracture behaviour of SLS PA12. The fracture toughness of distribution (in the range between 40 and 90 m m) centered on
the specimens loaded perpendicularly to the layers was lower 50-60 m m. The SLS samples for the present study were
than that of the specimens loaded parallel to the stratified manufactured by Prodintec, Spain, using a CO2-laser EOS
structure. Regarding different crack tips, no relevant differences EOSINT P-100 LS machine. The process parameters for SLS
between the fracture toughness values were obtained in of PA12 powder are collected in Table I.
specimens with a crack of 0.3 mm in thickness manufactured The density of the specimens was measured using the
during the SLS process and those sharpened by pressing the razor Archimedes method in ethanol as immersion medium with the
blade into the notch. This anomalous result is due to not have in help or a Mettler Toledo balance. The specimens presented a
consideration the plastic deformation area ahead of the crack tip high porosity with values of 3.4 per cent. For the determination
produced during notch sharpening via the pressing contact of the thermal properties and the crystallization characteristics,
technique. Finally, Cano et al. (2018a) analysed the influence of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique was used
the temperature and the load orientation on the fracture behaviour using a DSC Mettler 822e equipment. The DSC tests
of SLS PA12. The testing temperatures were within the in service consisted of a heating ramp at a rate of 10°C/min from 30°C to
temperature range of aircraft parts (50°C, 150°C). The 250°C, followed by a cooling ramp at a rate of 10°C/min from
mechanical response was non-linear for all cases because the 250°C to 30°C. From the thermograms, a glass transition
presence of a relaxation mode temperature, Tb , at around 60°C, temperature, Tg, of 54.6°C, a melting temperature, Tm, of 184°
forced the use of non-linear fracture mechanics approach for the C and a cristallyzation temperature, Tc, of 140.2°C were
fracture characterization. The crack growth initiation energy was determined. Also, the heats of fusion and crystallization were
similar at 50°C and 23°C but the one at 150°C was much obtained by integrating the heat flow under the melting and
higher. The anisotropic microstructure was relevant during the crystallization peaks. The melting crystallinity degree, x m, and
stable crack growth as the J-R curves of the specimens tested with the crystallinity degree from the crystallization peak, x c, were
the load applied parallel to the layer structure were steeper than computed from the heat of fusion, DHm, or of crystallization,
those of the specimens tested with the load applied perpendicularly. DHc, by using the following equation:
Despite the vital importance of the fatigue performance of LS
DHm or c
PA12 parts, fatigue response studies are still scarce. Van x m or c ¼ (1)
Hooreweder et al. (2010), Van Hooreweder and Kruth (2014) DH0
and Van Hooreweder et al. (2013) analysed the influence of the With DH0=209 J/g the enthalpy of fusion of perfect PA12
frequency and the building direction on the S-N curves. crystals (Gogolewski et al., 1980). The crystallinity degree
Munguia and Dalgarno (2015) obtained the LS PA12 fatigue calculated as the average value from x m and x c values was
behaviour in both reversed and rotating bending showing an 34.7 6 0.3 per cent (Cano et al., 2018a).
isotropic response in terms of fatigue behaviour for both test
configurations. Amel et al. (2016) investigated the effect of the
Table I Process parameters of SLS PA12 samples
geometry (thickness) on the fatigue behaviour obtained under
displacement controlled tension-tension and force-controlled Particle Powder bed Frame Layer Laser
fully reverse fatigue loading. Blattmeier et al. (2012) studied the diameter temperature temperature thickness power
effect of the surface treatment on the fatigue behaviour 40-90 lm 171.5°C 135.5°C 0.1 mm 25 W
determined through a load increase method of LS specimens.

821
Orientation on the fatigue crack growth Rapid Prototyping Journal
Alberto J. Cano, Alicia Salazar and Jesús Rodríguez Volume 25 · Number 5 · 2019 · 820–829

The mechanical and fracture properties were measured by with regard to the layer orientation, two batches with 10
the authors (Cano et al., 2018a) through tensile tests and samples each were tested. The samples in the group called
fracture tests under quasi-static loading conditions at room PARA were orientated in such a way that the applied force
temperature and with the load applied parallel (PARA) and direction belongs to the layer plane (x-y plane in Figure 1). In
perpendicular (PERP) to the layered structure. The tensile the group called PERP, the tensile force direction is coincident
tests were carried out according to ASTM D638 Standard at with the build direction or z-axis and thus, perpendicular to the
23°C in a universal electromechanical testing machine (MTS slice. The sharp crack was introduced by tapping on a razor
Alliance RF/100) with a load cell of 6 5 kN and at a crosshead blade previously frozen at liquid nitrogen temperature placed
speed of 5 mm/min. The axial deformation was measured with into the root of the notch till attaining a sharp crack with a
a contact MTS extensometer Model 634.12 F as well as with a length higher than 2 mm to avoid the influence of the
videoxtensometer VIC 2 D. Fracture tests were conducted on manufactured notch on the results.
Compact Tension (CT) specimens with a sharp crack The fatigue tests were carried out at room temperature in a
introduced by tapping on a razor blade placed into the root of servo-hydraulic testing machine MTS 810 with a load cell of 6
the notch attaining an initial crack length to width ratio of 0.5. 5 kN and a crack opening displacement (COD) extensometer
These tests were performed at 23°C and at a crosshead speed of MTS 632.02 F-20 with a displacement range of 13.9 mm/
5 mm/min in a universal servohydraulic testing machine (MTS 2 mm. The tests were performed at a frequency of 1 Hz and a
810 Materials Testing) with a load cell of 6 5 kN and a crack force ratio R = Pmin/Pmax of 0.1. Ten replicas were tested for
opening displacement (COD) extensometer MTS 632.02 F-20 each orientation.
with a displacement range of 13.9 mm/2 mm. Table II The fatigue behaviour was determined aspthe
gathers the tensile results and the crack growth initiation ffiffiffiffi crack growth
da
rate, dN , versus the crack driving force D G following the
energy, JIC. The mechanical properties seemed to be unaffected equation:
by orientation, except for the elongation at break, which shows  pffiffiffiffin
da
higher values at PARA orientation than at PERP orientation. ¼C D G (1)
Concerning the fracture behavior, while JIC values are similar dN
for both orientations, the stable crack growth represented by wherepaffiffiffiffiis the crack length, N is the number of elapsed cycles
the slope of the J-R curves is dependent on the orientation as and D G is defined as:
the J-R curves of PA12 tested at parallel orientation were rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
pffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 1 dC
steeper (higher values of the exponent N after fitting the D G ¼ Gmax  Gmin ¼ DP (2)
2B da
experimental data to the power law equation J = BDaN) than at
the perpendicular orientation. where Gmax is the maximum energy release rate, Gmin is the
minimum energy release rate, B is the specimen¨s thickness, C
2.2 Microstructural characterization is the samplés compliance andpffiffiffiffiDP is the amplitude load of the
Films with 10 m m in thickness were sectioned from the center cycle. The exploration of D G as the crack driving force in
of bulk specimens with a microtome (Rotary Microtome Leica polymers arises from some researchers (Furmanski and Pruitt,
RM2255), cutting parallel and perpendicular to the layered 2007; Sadananda and Vasudevan, 2004; Kanchanomai and
structure. The resulting sections were picked up and mounted Thammaruechu, 2009) who questioned the validity of DK,
on microscope slides to be analysed via transmitted light especially when dealing with the R-ratio effect; and those who
microscopy (Motic BA310 Met-T). Images were taken at a proved that DG = Gmax – Gmin is not a similitude parameter as
magnification of 500 and spherulites size were measured it violates the rules of superposition central to Liner Elastic
manually with the help of an image analysis software. Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) (Rans et al., 2011) because DG is
dependent on the medium load of the cycle, Pmed:
2.3 Fatigue test 2
Pmax  Pmin
2
dC DP  Pmed dC
ASTM E647 standard (ASTM E647-13, 2013) was adopted to DG ¼ Gmax  Gmin ¼ ¼
2B da 2B da
assess the fatigue crack growth behavior of SLS PA12. The
(3)
fatigue tests were performed on compact tension (CT) pffiffiffiffi
specimens with overall nominal dimensions of 50  48  10 The use of D G as the crack driving force is supported by the
mm3 (Figure 1). To analyse the influence of the applied load works by Rans et al. (2011) and Cano et al. (2018b) who proved

Table II Tensile (Young's modulus, E, Poisson¨s ratio, , tensile strength, s max and elongation at break, « f) and fracture (energy at crack growth initiation, JIC
and fitting values of the experimental J-R curves to the power law equation J = BDaN) properties of the SLS PA12 obtained at room temperature, under
quasi-static loading conditions and with the load applied parallel (Para) and perpendicular (PERP) to the layered structure
PA12 Tensile properties Fracture properties
Orientation E (GPa)  s max (MPa) « f (%) JIC (kJ/m2) B N
PARA 1.64 6 0.03 0.43 6 0.02 47 6 1 27.2 6 1.6 7.0 6 0.6 10.0 6 0.4 0.14 6 0.04
PERP 1.58 6 0.04 0.407 6 0.006 44 6 2 10 6 4 6.7 6 1.2 8.61 6 0.05 0.08 6 0.05

Source: Cano et al. (2018a)

822
Orientation on the fatigue crack growth Rapid Prototyping Journal
Alberto J. Cano, Alicia Salazar and Jesús Rodríguez Volume 25 · Number 5 · 2019 · 820–829

Figure 1 Compact tension (CT) sample where lines show layer orientation (z-axis perpendicular to the material layers)

PARA
PERP
z

x
y

B = 10 mm

10 + 0.05 mm

11 ± 0.2 mm

48 ± 0.4 mm
2.4 mm

an = 8 mm

W = 40 ± 0.2 mm

50 ± 0.04 mm

pffiffiffiffi
that D G is a valid similitude parameter for polymers as the micrographs for the PARA and PERP orientations,
range of stress intensity factor, DK = Kmax – Kmin, is for metals. respectively) taken at a magnification of 500. The resulting
analysis led to histograms that were approximated to a normal
2.4 Scanning electron microscopy distribution as the kurtosis for all the materials reached values
The fracture surfaces of the SLS PA12 were inspected using of utmost 0.2, whereas the perfect Gaussian distribution takes
scanning electron microscopy (SEM, HITACHI S3400N) to values of 0 (Sheskin, 2000) (Figure 3). The statistical
determine the micromechanisms of failure as a function of the parameters as the mean spherulitic size, D, and the standard
applied load with regard to the layered structure and the deviations, s , for the sections cut parallel and perpendicular to
characteristic microstructure. the layered structure are shown in Table III. As observed, there
is no difference in the spherulite size between the analysis
3. Results and discussion performed in the sections cut at different orientations. In both
cases, the spherulite size was  50 6 10 m m.
3.1 Microstructure The spherulite size seems to be related to the powder size.
Figures 2(a) and 2(b) show the microstructure of samples Commercially available LS powders are formed of spherulite
sectioned cutting parallel and perpendicular to the layered particles with a narrow size distribution centered on 60 m m
structure, respectively. Bright field polarized illumination was (Drummer et al., 2010). This is the case of the EOS PA2200
used. For both orientations, spherulites are clearly observed powder used in this study. If the processing parameters are
and there seems to be no difference in size at distinct optimum, the size of the crystalline parts or spherulites should
orientations. To analyze the spherulite size, the diameter of the be related with the particles size, being equal or even larger.
spherulite was measured from 67 micrographs (27 and 40 This is what happens in the material under study. The size of

823
Orientation on the fatigue crack growth Rapid Prototyping Journal
Alberto J. Cano, Alicia Salazar and Jesús Rodríguez Volume 25 · Number 5 · 2019 · 820–829

Figure 2 Microstructure of SLS PA12 obtained via bright field polarized Table III Normal distribution parameters of the spherulite size of SLS
illumination in sections cut at (a) PARA and (b) PERP orientations PA12 determined from the analysis of sections cut parallel and
perpendicular to the layered structure: mean spherulitic size, D, and
standard deviation, s
Orientation D ( m m) s ( m m)
PARA 48 12
PERP 49 12

the raw starting powders was in the range between 40 and


90 m m, with a wide distribution mainly centered on 50 m m,
and the average size of the spherulites was 50 6 10 m m.

3.2 Fatigue crack growth behaviour


Figure p 4 ffiffiffiffidisplays the fatigue crack propagation curves,
da
dN vs D G, of SLS PA12 obtained at PARA and PERP

Figure 4 Fatigue crack growth curves of SLS PA12 obtained at PARA


and PERP orientations

Figure 3 Normal distributions of the spherulite size for SLS PA12 in


PARA and PERP orientations
0,035
PERP orientation
PARA orientation
0,03

0,025
Probabability density

0,02

0,015

0,01

0,005

0
0 20 40 60 80 100

Spherulite size (Pm)

824
Orientation on the fatigue crack growth Rapid Prototyping Journal
Alberto J. Cano, Alicia Salazar and Jesús Rodríguez Volume 25 · Number 5 · 2019 · 820–829

Table IV Fitting values of the fatigue crack growth curves to equation (1) orientations. The diagrams reflect the typical scatter due to a
of SLS PA12 tested at Para and PERP orientations variety of factors that include experimental ones (material and
geometry variability or variation in testing conditions) and the
Orientation C (mm,ciclo,N/m) n
probabilistic nature of the fatigue phenomenon (Castillo and
PARA (9.5 6 8.3) ·10-8
8.3 6 0.9 Fernández-Canteli, 2009). The average values resulting from
PERP (5.0 6 4.3) ·10-8 9.6 6 1.5 the fitting of the experimental data to equation (1) are shown in
Table IV. First of all, the exponents of the fatigue crack growth
law are between those measured by Salazar et al. (2014a,
2014b) in also SLS PA12 despite the latter used DK as the
crack driving force (values of the exponents measured in
Salazar et al. (2014a, 2014b) were in the range between 11 and
Figure 5 Envelopes of the fatigue crack growth curves of SLS PA12 14) and those measured by Boukhili et al. in pure injection
depicted in red for the PARA orientation and in blue for the PERP molded PA12 (Boukhili et al., 1986) (values of the exponents
orientation measured in Boukhili et al. (1986) ranged between 4 and 6).
Second, the specimens tested in PERP orientation tend to
present a worse fatigue behavior than the samples tested in
PARA orientation attending to the evaluation of the exponent
of the crack growth law. This can be more easily observed in
Figure 5 where the envelopes of all the fatigue crack
propagation curves obtained in specimens tested at PARA and
PERP orientations are depicted in red and blue, respectively.

Figure 7 Fracture surfaces of the fatigue specimens tested at PARA


orientation

Figure 6 Panoramic view of the fracture surfaces of the SLS PA12


specimens tested at (a) PARA and (b) PERP orientations

825
Orientation on the fatigue crack growth Rapid Prototyping Journal
Alberto J. Cano, Alicia Salazar and Jesús Rodríguez Volume 25 · Number 5 · 2019 · 820–829

The fatigue crack growth curves of the specimens tested at PARA orientation the successive layers deposition is clearly
PERP orientation tend to be above those tested at PARA distinguished, with these layers separated 200 m m from each
orientation but it is worth mentioning that an important other. Caulfield et al. (2007) and Dupin et al. (2012) attribute
number of the fatigue crack growth curves tested at both the visibility of the manufacturing layers to a low supplied
orientations overlap. energy density. Moreover, the fracture surfaces of the
Figure 6 shows a low magnification view of the fracture specimens tested at PERP orientation seem to be smoother
surfaces of the fatigue specimens tested at PARA and PERP than those tested at PARA orientation, except when the crack
orientations. Independently of the orientation, all the fracture tends to jump from one layer to another at the confluence of
surfaces present discernible pores homogenously distributed. coalescence of pores during its propagation. At PERP
These pores are formed because certain particles have been orientation, the crack propagates easily along the layer and only
partially melt during the laser scan during specimen processing deviates to another layer at weak sites formed by the pores left
resulting in poor fusion to the surrounding area. These poorly by the partially melt particles. This seems to be the reason of
melt particles become more easily detached from the surface the worse fatigue response of the specimens tested at PERP
leaving voids behind (Caulfield et al., 2007). The distribution orientation in comparison with those tested at PARA
and quantity of porosity seems to be similar for both orientation.
orientations and therefore, the same value of porosity, 3.4 per Independently of the fatigue applied load with regard to the
cent, was obtained in the density measurements using the layered structure, the main micromechanisms of failure is the craze
Archimedes method. On the other hand, differences appear in formation, growth and subsequent rupture resulting in fibrillation.
terms of the orientations. In all the fracture surfaces tested at This can be observed in the patchwork structure with patterns
resulting from crazing and fibrillation [Figures 7(a) and 8(a)]. At

Figure 8 Fracture surfaces of the fatigue specimens tested at PERP


orientation Figure 9 Fatigue river markings observable in (a) the dimples resulting
from the crazes elongation and coalescence, (b) the amorphous
filaments submitted to ductile tearing and left behind after craze growth
and consequent rupture during fatigue crack propagation

826
Orientation on the fatigue crack growth Rapid Prototyping Journal
Alberto J. Cano, Alicia Salazar and Jesús Rodríguez Volume 25 · Number 5 · 2019 · 820–829

the crack tip, a high deformation occurs during the cyclic crack propagation occurs predominantly in a transspherulitic
loading. In semicrystalline materials, this high deformation mode.
provokes lamellae separation, often accompanied by the
formation of voids especially in the case of materials having 4. Conclusions
strong and thick crystals like the PA12 under study (Figure 2)
(Pawlak and Galeski, 2005). Voids nucleate mainly between This work analyses the fatigue crack growth of PA12 processed
lamellae oriented perpendicularly or at an angle of via SLS, paying special attention to the effect of the layered
approximately 45° to the load direction (Friedrich, 1983). The structure with respect to the applied load orientation. Despite
nucleated voids are initially confined between lamellae and the layered structure, typical of this type of materials, the
oriented perpendicularly to the direction of deformation but as specimens tested at perpendicular orientation presented a
the deformation level increases, lamellae separation becomes worse fatigue behaviour than the specimens tested at parallel
greater, favoring further cavitation or massive voiding. Finally, orientation.
lamellae fragmentation is observed resulting in a strong The fracture surfaces of the specimens tested at
extension of the nucleated cavities. These latter become perpendicular orientation were smoother than those tested at
stretched along the load direction (Hussein, 2013). The parallel orientation. The crack propagates easily along the layer
resulting fracture is formed by small craters [Figures 7(b) and only deviates to another layer at weak sites formed by the
and 8(b)] with borders composed of stretched filaments in a pores left by the partially melt particles at perpendicular
direction perpendicular to the fracture plane. The signs of orientation.
fatigue striations are especially visible along the deformed The main micromechanisms of failure is the craze
amorphous filaments (Figure 9). The average size of these formation, growth and subsequent rupture. This leads to a
dimples/craters is around 50 m m for the specimens tested at patchwork pattern with an average size of craters/dimples of
both orientations (Figure 10), and this value is similar to the size 50 m m, which is identical to that of the spherulites.
of the spherulites (Figure 2). This indicates that the fatigue Therefore, the fatigue crack propagation occurs mainly in a
transspherulitic mode.

References
Figure 10 Detail of the patchwork structure due to craze formation in
specimens tested at (a) PARA and (b) PERP orientations Amel, H., Rongong, J., Moztarzadeh, H. and Hopkinson, N.
(2016), “Effect of section thickness on fatigue performance
of laser sintered nylon 12”, Polymer Testing, Vol. 53,
pp. 204-210.
ASTM E647-13 (2013), “Standard test method for
measurement of fatigue crack growth rates”, ICS Number
Code 77.040.10 (Mechanical testing of metals).
Blattmeier, M., Witt, G., Wortberg, J., Eggert, J. and Toepker,
J. (2012), “Influence of surface characteristics on fatigue
behavior of laser sintered plastics”, Rapid Prototyping Journal,
Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 161-171.
Boukhili, R., de Charentenay, F.X. and Vu-Khanh, T. (1986),
“Effect of frequency and orientation on fatigue crack
propagation in polyamide-12”, International Journal of
Fatigue, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 127-134.
Brugo, T., Palazetti, R., Ciric-Kostic, S., Yan, X.T., Minak, G.
and Zucchelli, A. (2016), “Fracture mechanics of laser
sintered cracked polyamide for a new method to induce
cracks by additive manufacturing”, Polymer Testing, Vol. 50,
pp. 301-308.
Cano, A.J., Salazar, A. and Rodríguez, J. (2018a), “Effect of
temperature on the fracture behaviour of polyamide 12 and
glass-filled polyamide 12 processed by selective laser
sintering”, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, Vol. 203,
pp. 66-80.
Cano, A.J., Salazar, A. and Rodríguez, J. (2018b), “Evaluation
of different crack driving forces for describing the fatigue
crack growth behavior of PET-G”, International Journal of
Fatigue, Vol. 107, pp. 27-32.
Castillo Acero, M.A. (2017), “Multidisciplinary approach for a
commercial transport aircraft rudder with morphing
characteristics”, VIII ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on
Smart Structures and Materials, SMART 2017.

827
Orientation on the fatigue crack growth Rapid Prototyping Journal
Alberto J. Cano, Alicia Salazar and Jesús Rodríguez Volume 25 · Number 5 · 2019 · 820–829

Castillo, E. and Fernández-Canteli, A. (2009), A Unified Paesano, A. (2016), “Polymeric additive manufacturing:
Statistical Methodology for Modeling Fatigue Damage, present status and future trends of materials and processes”,
Springer. Boeing Technical Journal, pp. 1-12.
Caulfield, B., McHugh, P.E. and Lohfeld, S. (2007), Page, I.B. (2001), Polyamides as Engineering Thermoplastic
“Dependence of mechanical properties of polyamide Materials, Rapra.
components on build parameters in the SLS process”, Pawlak, A. and Galeski, A. (2005), “Plastic deformation of
Journal of Materials Processing Technology, Vol. 182 Nos 1/3, crystalline polymers: the role of cavitation and crystal
pp. 477-488. plasticity”, Macromolecules, Vol. 38 No. 23,
Dizon, J.R.C., Espera, A.H., JrChen, Q. and Advincula, R.C. pp. 9688-9697.
(2018), “Mechanical characterization of 3D-printed Rans, C., Alderliesten, R. and Benedicturs, R. (2011),
polymers – review”, Additive Manufacturing, Vol. 20, “Misinterpreting the results: how similitude can improve our
pp. 44-67. understanding of fatigue delamination growth”, Composites
Drummer, D., Rietzel, D. and Kühnlein, F. (2010), Science & Technology, Vol. 71, pp. 230-238.
“Development of a characterization approach for the Sadananda, K. and Vasudevan, A.K. (2004), “Analysis of
sintering behaviour of new thermoplastic for selective laser fatigue crack growth behavior in polymers using the unified
sintering”, Physics Procedia, Vol. 5, pp. 533-542. approach”, Materials Science & Engineering. A, Structural
Dupin, S., Lame, O., Barrès, C. and Charmeau, J.Y. Materials: properties, Microstructure and Processing, Vols 387/
(2012), “Microstructural origin of physical and 389, pp. 536-541, available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
mechanical properties of polyamide 12 processed by laser msea.2004.01.115
sintering”, European Polymer Journal, Vol. 48 No. 9, Salazar, A., Rico, A., Rodríguez, J., Segurado Escudero, J.,
pp. 1611-1621. Seltzer, R. and Martin de la Escalera Cutillas, F. (2014a),
Fox, B. (2006), Rapid Manufacturing: An Industrial Revolution “Fatigue crack growth of SLS polyamide 12: effect
for the Digital Age, Hopkinson, N., Hague, R.J.H., Dickens, of reinforcement and temperature”, Composites Part
P.M. (Eds), John Wiley & Sons, pp. 221-231. B-Engineering, Vol. 59, pp. 285-292.
Friedrich, K. (1983), “Crazes and shear bands in semi- Salazar, A., Rico, A., Rodríguez, J., Segurado Escudero, J.,
crystalline thermoplastics”, Advances in Polymer Science,
Seltzer, R. and Martin de la Escalera Cutillas, F. (2014b),
Vol. 52-53, pp. 225-274.
“Monotonic loading and fatigue response of a bio-based
Furmanski, J. and Pruitt, L.A. (2007), “Peak stress intensity
polyamide PA11 and a petrol-based polyamide PA12
dictates fatigue crack propagation in UHMWPE”, Polymer,
manufactured by selective laser sintering”, European Polymer
Vol. 48 No. 12, pp. 3512-3519.
Journal, Vol. 59, pp. 36-45.
Gogolewski, S., Czerntawska, K. and Gastorek, M. (1980),
Seltzer, R., Martín de la Escalera, F. and Segurado, J. (2011),
“Effect of annealing on thermal properties and crystalline
“Effect of water conditioning on the fracture behavior of
structure of polyamides”, Colloid and Polymer Science,
PA12 composites processed by selective laser sintering”,
Vol. 258 No. 10, pp. 1130-1136.
Materials Science & Engineering. A, Structural Materials:
Happian-Smith, J. (2001), An Introduction to Modern Vehicle
Design, Reed Educational and Professional Publising Ltd., properties, Microstructure and Processing, Vol. 528 Nos 22/23,
Oxford. pp. 6927-6933.
Hussein, N. (2013), “Enhancement of the mechanical Sheskin, D.J. (2000), Handbook of Parametric and
performance of semi-crystalline polyamides by tailoring the Nonparametric Statistical Procedures, 2nd ed., CRC Press
intermolecular interaction in the amorphous phase”, PhD LLC, FL.
Thesis, Lyon, available at: http://theses.insa-lyon.fr/publication/ Starr, T.L., Gornet, T.J. and Usher, J.S. (2011), “The effect of
2013ISAL0140/these.pdf process conditions on mechanical properties of laser-
Hitt, D.J., Haworth, B. and Hopkinson, N. (2011), “Fracture sintering nylon”, Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 17 No. 6,
mechanics approach to compare laser sintered parts and pp. 418-423.
injection mouldings of nylon-12”, Proceedings of the Institution Stichel, T., Frick, T., Laumer, T., Tenner, F., Hausotte, T.,
of Mechanical Engineers Part B Journal of Engineering Merklein, M. and Schmidt, M. (2017), “A round robin study
Manufacture, Vol. 225 No. 9, pp. 1663-1672. for selective laser sintering of polyamide 12: microstructural
Kanchanomai, C. and Thammaruechu, A. (2009), “Effects of origin of the mechanical properties”, Optics & Laser
stress ratio on fatigue crack growth of thermoset epoxy Technology, Vol. 89, pp. 31-40.
resin”, Polymer Degradation and Stability, Vol. 94 No. 10, Stöcker, M. (2002), “From rapid prototyping to rapid
pp. 1772-1778. manufacturing”, Auto Technology, Vol. 2, pp. 38-40.
McKeen, L.W. (2010), Polyamides (Nylons), Fatigue and Van Hooreweder, B., de Coninck, F., Moens, D., Boonen,
Tribological Properties of Plastics and Elastomers, 2nd ed., R. and Sas, P. (2010), “Microestructural characterization
William Andrew Publishing, Oxford, pp. 175-228. of SLS-PA12 specimens under dynamic tension/
Munguia, J. and Dalgarno, K. (2015), “Fatigue behavior of compression excitation”, Polymer Testing, Vol. 29 No. 3,
laser sintered nylon 12 in rotating and reversed bending pp. 319-326.
tests”, Materials Science & Technology, Vol. 31 No. 8, Van Hooreweder, B. and Kruth, J.P. (2014), “High cycle
pp. 904-911. fatigue properties of selective laser sintered parts in
Noorani, R.I. (2005), Rapid Prototyping: principles and polyamide 12”, CIRP Annals  Manufacturing Technology,
Applications, Wiley. Vol. 63 No. 1, pp. 241-244.

828
Orientation on the fatigue crack growth Rapid Prototyping Journal
Alberto J. Cano, Alicia Salazar and Jesús Rodríguez Volume 25 · Number 5 · 2019 · 820–829

Van Hooreweder, B., Moens, D., Boonen, R., Kruth, J.P. and and properties of SLS nylon 12”, Materials Science &
Sas, P. (2013), “On the difference in material structure and Engineering. A, Structural Materials: Properties, Microstructure
fatigue properties of nylon specimens produced by injection and Processing, Vols 435/436, pp. 172-180.
molding and selective laser sintering”, Polymer Testing,
Vol. 32 No. 5, pp. 972-981.
Zarringhalam, H., Hopkinson, N., Kamperman, N.F. and De Corresponding author
Vlieger, J.J. (2006), “Effects of processing on microstructure Alicia Salazar can be contacted at: alicia.salazar@urjc.es

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

829

S-ar putea să vă placă și