Resin Strengthened Metal Parts Manufactured by Indirect SLS

Metal green parts fabricated by indirect selective laser sintering(SLS)normally have low density and mechanical properties because they consist of metal skeleton and pores after decomposition and high temperature sintering.Modified epoxy resin is used to infiltrate and density the parts to improve their mechanical properties.The infiltration processes of different composition resins and the mechanical properties of infiltrated parts are investigated by means of differential scan calorimetry(DSC),thermal gravity analysis(TGA) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM).The results show that optimal mechanical properties of the parts are obtained when the proportion of epoxy to phenolic resin is 2:1,and the resin is infiltrated and cured at 100℃ and 160℃ respectively.The density of the parts is greatly improved,the tensile strength is 29.51MPa,which is about 20MPa more than that before infiltration and the heat resistant temperature reaches 200℃.The plastic injection mold can be manufactured with reference to this approach.