Materials Science and Engineering A 437 (2006) 226234

Processing and properties of glass bead particulate-filled functionally

graded Nylon-11 composites produced by selective laser sintering
Haseung Chung, Suman Das
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2125, USA
Received 8 May 2006; received in revised form 13 June 2006; accepted 21 July 2006

Abstract
This article investigates the fabrication of functionally graded materials (FGMs) by selective laser sintering (SLS) of Nylon-11 composites filled
with different volume fractions of glass beads (030%). The investigation involved a combination of experimental studies, theoretical modeling
and numerical analysis. Optimal processing parameters for each composition were developed by design of experiments (DOE). These parameters
were then compared with parameters predicted by numerical modeling. Specimens for tensile and compressive testing for each composition and
for a 1D FGM composition were fabricated and tested. The experimentally measured tensile and compressive moduli were compared with moduli
predicted by Halpins theoretical model and were found to be in excellent agreement. The results showed that the tensile and compressive modulus
increases while strain at break and strain at yield decreases as a function of glass bead volume fraction. A finite element model for the compressive
properties of the 1D FGM specimen showed good agreement with experimentally measured values. Finally, to demonstrate the SLS-based FGM
approach, two components exhibiting a one-dimensional functional gradient of particulate-filled polymer composites were fabricated.
2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Polymer composites; Functionally graded materials; Selective laser sintering; Nylon-11; Glass beads; Design of experiments

1. Introduction
Polymer systems are widely used due to their unique
attributes including ease of production, light weight, and often
ductile nature. However, polymers have lower modulus and
strength as compared to metals and ceramics. Mechanical properties of polymers can be improved by the inclusion of fillers
(fibers, whiskers, platelets, or particles) to form polymer matrix
composites [1,2]. Using this approach, polymer properties have
been improved while maintaining their light weight and ductile
nature [312].
Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are materials that
incorporate deliberately designed transitions in materials composition and properties within a component in a preferred direction to optimize the functional value of that component [13,14].
Processing methods for FGMs have been extensively reviewed
elsewhere [15]. In the specific context of FGMs involving polymer composites, processing methods include hot isostatic press-

Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 734 615 6646; fax: +1 734 647 3170.
E-mail address: sumandas@umich.edu (S. Das).

0921-5093/$ see front matter 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.msea.2006.07.112

ing [16,17], gravity casting [18], compression molding [19,20],

and centrifugation [17].
Most of these previous research efforts have involved creating
one-dimensional FGMs in simple shapes. While the ability to
manufacture complex components using FGMs is highly desirable, at present, efficient automated techniques to build such
components with material gradations realized as per design are
limited. In this respect, layered manufacturing techniques such
as selective laser sintering (SLS) [21], have the potential to be
ideal techniques to automatically build such components. SLS
creates objects directly from CAD models using a layer-by-layer
material deposition and consolidation approach. Thin layers of
powders are successively deposited and selectively fused using
a computer-controlled scanning laser beam that scans patterns
corresponding to slices of the CAD model. With appropriately
designed powder deposition systems, this approach allows deposition of multiple materials not only across successive layers
but also within each layer, enabling the manufacture of FGM
components.
Processing of polymer composites by SLS has been reported
previously by Forderhase et al. [22]. They investigated processing of Nylon-based composites with different volume fractions
of glass fiber and glass bead reinforcements. Processing of

H. Chung, S. Das / Materials Science and Engineering A 437 (2006) 226234

FGMs by SLS has also been reported previously. Jepson et

al. [23] created one-dimensional FGMs by SLS processing of
blends of tungsten carbide and cobalt powders. In this work,
FGMs were created in the plane of each layer by carefully placing different powder blends contiguously and scanning the entire
layer using a laser. Beal et al. [24] reported the SLS processing
of one-dimensional FGMs using blends of H-13 tool steel and
copper powders. In this work, five different powder blends were
deposited in the plane of a layer using a multi-container feed
hopper and processed by an Nd:YAG pulsed laser.
The research presented in this article differs from that of the
previous efforts [2224] in two important ways. One of our goals
was to systematically determine the optimal SLS processing
parameters and corresponding mechanical properties of glass
bead particulate-filled Nylon-11 composites with 030% filler
volume fractions, each exhibiting near-full density, good bonding of polymer matrix with reinforcing particles, and no interlayer delamination. A second goal of this research was to investigate and develop the materials processing techniques necessary
to produce components endowed with a one-dimensional FGM
in the build direction using the above-mentioned compositions
and processing parameters on an unmodified commercial SLS
machine. Generating one-dimensional functionally graded components in this manner will establish the basis for manufacturing
geometrically complex component designs exploiting variations
in material composition and mechanical properties along one
preferred direction. It will also establishes the scientific and technological basis for the extension of SLS as powerful technique to
build arbitrarily complex objects with three-dimensional material heterogeneity, once appropriate mechanisms for automatically depositing patterns of multiple powders in the plane of
each layer and across layers are developed [25].
2. Experimental and numerical
A commercially available SLS machine (SinterstationTM
2000, 3D Systems, Valencia, CA) was used in our experiments.
The selection of materials suitable for the fabrication of FGMs
by SLS was based on the following criteria. First, materials must
be available in powder form. For good spreading on the powder
bed, there are limitations on the powder particle size. Powders
should flow freely, even at elevated temperatures, since good
powder flow and spreading are required to form each new layer
in SLS processing. At the lower end, materials made with diameters less than 10 m were found to exhibit poor bulk flow at
high temperatures, due to the higher interparticle friction found
in extremely fine powders [22]. At the higher end, a typical build
layer thickness in the SinterstationTM 2000 machine is in the
100200 m range. Therefore, materials with particle sizes in
the 10150 m range are preferred. Semi-crystalline polymers
with relatively low melting point and low melting viscosity are
preferred [26]. For our experiments, a type of Nylon-11 (Rilsan
D80, Arkema, France) and glass beads (Potters A glass spheres,
Potters Industries, PA) were chosen as the polymer and the particulate filler, respectively. The particle size distributions of the
Nylon-11 and the glass beads obtained by sieve analysis (Analysette 3 Pro, Fritsch, Germany) are shown in Figs. 1 and 2,

227

Fig. 1. Particle size distribution of Nylon-11 (Rilsan D80) by sieve analysis.

respectively. The majority of the Nylon-11 powder particles is

in the 106150 m range while the majority of glass beads is
in the 4563 m range. Both materials have particle sizes in the
preferred range for SLS processing.
To produce one-dimensional FGMs, particulate loaded
Nylon-11 composites with different loadings of glass beads
were first generated and their tensile and compressive mechanical properties were tested. The goal was to examine the effects
of different processing parameters on the quality of the resulting product and to find optimal processing parameters for each
mixture composition. To prepare each composition, Rilsan D80

Fig. 2. Particle size distribution of glass beads (Potters A glass spheres) by sieve
analysis.

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H. Chung, S. Das / Materials Science and Engineering A 437 (2006) 226234

Nylon-11 was blended with different volume fractions of glass

beads over the range 1030% in 10% increments using a rotary
tumbler (784 AVM, U.S. Stoneware, Ohio) for 24 h.
Two-level factorial design of experiments (DOE) methods
[27] were then used to determine the optimal SLS processing
parameters for achieving high quality parts. Here, the optimal
SLS processing parameters are defined as those that result in
parts which are fully dense or near-fully dense in regions where
material is present in the parts design, dimensionally accurate,
and easily removed from its support powder. Procedures previously developed by Partee et al. [28] for determining the optimal
SLS processing parameters for CAPA 6501 polycaprolactone
powder were adopted for the present study. In the context of this
study involving polymer composites, additional criteria were
applied so that the optimal SLS processing parameters resulted
in smoothly deposited powder layers in the shortest possible
time, and yielded SLS processed specimens exhibiting good
bonding of the polymer matrix to the glass beads with no interlayer delamination.
In order to determine the optimal processing parameters for
each composition, we fabricated 10 mm cubes using different
settings of laser power, scan speed, part substrate temperature,
powder layer thickness, feed distance, feed heater set point,
roller speed, and part heater output limit by DOE. However, with
eight processing parameters, the total number of required experiments from two-level factorial designs is 28 = 256. To decrease
the total number of required experiments, we applied two-level
factorial designs to only five parameters, namely, laser power,
scan speed, substrate temperature, feed distance and roller speed,
which were most critical to processing and final part quality,
while the other parameters remained constant.
The fabricated parts were sectioned and their microstructures were examined by optical microscopy (Leica DMLM
Microscope, Leica Microsystems, Germany), scanning electron
microscopy (Philips XL30 SEM), and ImageJ software. Their
cross-sections were dyed using a black marker pen and then
wiped using a smooth cloth. Areas of porosity are indicated by
those regions that remain black when black ink is wiped off
from the section face because pores retain some ink while the
fully dense regions do not. Thus, the black regions shown in
Fig. 3 indicate porosity. The same procedures were followed
for three other compositions, namely, Nylon-11 filled with 10,
20, and 30 vol.% glass beads. Quantitative porosity distributions
and particle distributions were obtained by processing and analysis of optical microscopy digital images (2560 1920 pixels)
using ImageJ software [29]. Each RGB image was converted
to a binary image. Subsequently, thresholding operations were
performed to isolate the black regions indicating pores from
the surrounding white regions indicating a fully dense material
matrix. The area fraction of porosity was determined using the
in-built Analyze Particles function in ImageJ. Particle-matrix
wetting was also examined in the micrographs.
The optimal processing parameters found by experiments for
the Nylon-11 composites were compared with the parameter
values predicted by a 1D heat transfer model. A 1D model that
describes the physical mechanisms of heat transfer, melting and
resolidification taking place during and after the interaction of a

Fig. 3. Cross-sectional optical micrograph of Rilsan D80 Nylon-11 part.

quasi-stationary laser beam with a metal substrate was presented

elsewhere [30,31]. The substrate interacting with the laser is
treated as a crystalline surface with a sharp melting temperature. In the present work, these concepts were applied to semicrystalline polymers. Although our previous work focused on
understanding such phenomena occurring in direct SLS where a
laser beam interacts with a metal substrate, the developed model
is applicable in general to laser melting of crystalline materials,
provided the 1D assumption is met and boundary conditions are
satisfied [30,31].
The optimal processing parameters achieved by DOE for each
material composition were then used to generate five test specimens for each mechanical test and for each composition. For the
compression tests, specimens were fabricated in two different
building directions relative to the testing orientation. A tensile
testing machine (Instron 4502, Instron, MA) was used for tensile
tests and a material testing machine (Alliance RT/30, MTS Systems, MN) was used for compression tests. The ASTM standards
D-638 and D-695 were followed for tensile and compressive
properties, respectively. The measured tensile and compressive
moduli were compared with the predicted values by Halpins
model [32].
Once the optimal processing parameters for each composition were achieved and mechanical tests were completed, FGM
composites with these material compositions were fabricated
based on the optimal processing parameters. Due to the nature
of the powder delivery subsystem in the SinterstationTM 2000
machine, laser sintering of multiple materials is virtually impossible. By altering the powder delivery subsystem, a component
with multiple materials may be fabricated. In this study, a vertical
FGM in discrete layers was created manually in the powder supply cylinders. As the SLS process proceeded, the roller deposited
material of a gradually changing composition on the part side
piston as the stacked powders of different compositions were
incrementally consumed. The optimal processing parameters
determined previously for each composition were also changed
synchronously. This technique created multilayer FGM samples in which the material gradient was oriented along the build
direction. Using this technique, FGM compression specimens

H. Chung, S. Das / Materials Science and Engineering A 437 (2006) 226234

were fabricated and compression tests were conducted. We fabricated cylindrical specimens (25.4 mm long cylinder, 12.7 mm
diameter) incorporating four different composition zones, each
of 6.35 mm length along the cylinder axis. Additionally, compression testing of the FGM specimen was simulated using
ABAQUSTM software (ABAQUS Inc., Rhode Island) and the
results were compared with the experimentally measured compressive modulus. Finally, two component designs were fabricated using this technique to demonstrate our SLS-based FGM
approach.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Optimal processing parameter development
Table 1 shows the upper and lower limits of the parameters that were initially used for DOE of Rilsan D80 Nylon-11.
The machine vendor recommended process parameter values for
Duraform Polyamide, a type of Nylon-11 were initially applied
as baseline parameters to the Rilsan D80 Nylon-11 used in this
study. However, these parameters did not yield promising specimens with respect to the criteria defining optimal processing
parameters (Section 2). The processing parameter window was
then expanded to the high and low levels shown in Table 1 and
a two-level factorial DOE was applied.
The high and low levels of the processing parameter window were chosen as follows: at the combination of the upper
limit of laser power and lower limit of scan speed, the Nylon-11
powder was strongly melted by the laser and was on the verge of
decomposition, emitting small amounts of smoke. At the combination of the lower limit of laser power and upper limit of scan
speed, a part scanned by the laser beam was weakly sintered
and barely held its shape together. At the substrate temperature

229

Table 1
Upper and lower limit of processing parameters for Nylon-11
Processing parameter

Upper limit

Lower limit

Part substrate temperature

set point ( C)
Roller speed (m/s)
Laser power (W)
Scan speed (m/s)
Feed distance (m)

186

180

0.127 (5 in./s)
6
1.295 (51.0 in./s)
2.54E4 (0.010 in.)

0.076 (3 in./s)
2.5
1.219 (48.0 in./s)
2.03E4 (0.008 in.)

above the upper limit, the powder in the part build area began
to cake severely and at the temperature below the lower limit,
the distortion of the first scanned layer prevented the deposition
and fabrication of additional layers on the top of the first layer.
At the upper limit of the roller speed, powder spreading could
not be carried out satisfactorily. Newly deposited powder layers
were not smooth and continuous, and began to exhibit corrugations and islands of incomplete deposition. The lower limit of
the roller speed was highest speed at which smooth and uniform
new layers of powders could be spread and the speed below
which no further difference in the layer deposit quality could be
visually distinguished.
After two-level factorial designs were initially applied as
shown in Table 1 and the resulting parts examined by crosssectional optical microscopy, the upper limit and lower limit of
each processing parameter were modified. As this process proceeded, the gap between upper limit and lower limit of each
processing parameter was successively decreased resulting in
the determination of optimal processing parameters.
The machine vendor recommended process parameter values
for Duraform Polyamide processing in the SinterstationTM 2000
machine and the optimized processing parameters for Rilsan
D80 Nylon-11 are shown for comparison in Table 2.

Table 2
Default and optimal values for processing parameters for Rilsan D80 Nylon-11
Processing parameter

Machine vendor recommended values

Optimal values from our study

Feed distance (m)

Feed heater set point ( C)
Powder layer thickness (m)
Part substrate temperature set point ( C)
Part heater output limit (%)
Roller speed (m/s)
Laser power (W)
Scan speed (m/s)

203 (0.008 in., warm upstage), 229 (0.009 in., build stage)
80
102 (0.004 in.)
180
40
0.127 (5 in./s)
6.0
1.257 (49.5 in./s)

254 (0.010 in., warm up and build stage)

80
102 (0.004 in.)
184
40
0.076 (3 in./s)
4.5
1.257 (49.5 in./s)

Table 3
Optimal processing parameters and densities for four different Nylon-11/glass beads compositions
Processing parameter

Rilsan D80 Nylon-11

Nylon-11 + 10% glass beads

Nylon-11 + 20% glass beads

Nylon-11 + 30% glass beads

Part substrate temperature

set point ( C)
Roller speed (m/s)
Laser power (W)
Scan speed (m/s)
Resulting density (%)

184

184

184

184

0.076 (3 in./s)
4.5
1.257 (49.5 in./s)
99.8 0.1

0.076 (3 in./s)
4.5
1.257 (49.5 in./s)
99.9 0.1

0.076 (3 in./s)
4.5
1.257 (49.5 in./s)
99.7 0.1

0.076 (3 in./s)
4.5
1.257 (49.5 in./s)
99.1 0.1

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H. Chung, S. Das / Materials Science and Engineering A 437 (2006) 226234

The parts produced by using the optimal processing parameters for Rilsan D80 Nylon-11 shown in Table 2, had 0.2%
porosity implying that 99.8% dense parts were obtained, as
shown in the optical micrograph of Fig. 3.
Table 3 shows the optimal processing parameters and resulting densities for the four different material compositions, keeping the values of feed distance and powder layer thickness fixed
at 254 and 102 m, respectively. It should be noted that the
optimal processing parameters for achieving near-full density
in all compositions tested are identical. The fabricated parts in
all compositions have densities in excess of 99.0% as determined
by quantitative optical microscopy.
3.2. Melting depth modeling
Maximum melting depth in SLS is related to the degree
of densification of the final product. If the maximum melting
depth is less than the build layer thickness, two successive layers cannot be bonded together, resulting in delamination. If the
maximum melting depth is close to the build layer thickness, a
porous region can be generated at the interface of two successive
layers due to incomplete inter-layer fusion. When the maximum
melting depth is slightly larger than the build layer thickness,
two successive layers can bond together well due to complete
melting of the upper layer and partial remelting of the underlying
layer. In this case, intra- and inter-layer porosity is eliminated
or minimized, and consequently density is maximized.
Maximum melting depths were obtained by our 1D heat transfer model for the composites using different combinations of
processing parameters for DOE. The effect of each processing parameter was then compared with the experimental results.
From the computation results, we can conclude that among the
laser power, scan speed, and substrate temperature, the effect of
laser power is largest and the effect of scan speed is smallest.
Thus, the laser power and the substrate temperature are more
critical than the scan speed for achieving a melting depth that
results in near-full density and consequently, a high quality part.
These predictions are in good agreement with the experimental
results by DOE.
Fig. 4 shows the maximum melting depth as a function of
volume fraction of glass beads using the optimal processing
parameters obtained previously by DOE. The maximum melting depth is in the 120130 m range for all the compositions.
These values are slightly larger than the 101.6 m layer thickness. Therefore, we conclude that our 1D heat transfer model
can be used to predict the optimal processing parameters prior
to experimental verification.

Fig. 4. Simulated maximum melting depth with optimal processing parameters

as a function of glass bead composition [30,31].

The mean compressive modulus and the mean strain at yield

for two different building directions as a function of the glass
bead volume fraction are shown in Figs. 79, respectively. The
compressive modulus increases and the strain at yield decreases
as glass bead volume fraction increases. The modulus for the
parallel build direction is larger than the modulus for perpendicular direction for each composition while the strain at yield
for the parallel build direction is smaller than the strain at yield
for the perpendicular build direction. We can conclude that parts
fabricated by parallel direction are stiffer, but more brittle, than
those fabricated by perpendicular direction.
Halpins theoretical model [22,32] predicts the mechanical
properties of particulate-filled composites assuming that the
composites are void free and that there is complete coupling

3.3. Mechanical properties

The mean tensile modulus and the mean strain at break as
a function of the glass bead filler composition are shown in
Figs. 5 and 6, respectively. The data shows that the tensile
modulus increases while the strain at break decreases as glass
bead volume fraction increases, indicating that the SLS processed parts become stiffer, yet more brittle with more glass bead
loading.

Fig. 5. Tensile modulus as a function of glass bead volume fraction.

H. Chung, S. Das / Materials Science and Engineering A 437 (2006) 226234

Fig. 6. Tensile strain at break as a function of glass bead volume fraction.

between the phases. According to this model, the moduli of the

composite and the polymer matrix are related as follows:
Ec
(1 + Vf )
=
Em
(1 Vf )

(1)

(Ef /Em ) 1
(Ef /Em ) +

(2)

where Ec is the modulus of the composite, Em the modulus of

the polymer and Ef is the modulus of the glass beads. The factors
and are parameters which depend on the boundary condition
between the matrix and the reinforcement, as well as the moduli
of the matrix and the reinforcement. The assumed value of for
this type of reinforcement in this regime of reinforcement particle volume fraction is 2 [22]. Figs. 5, 7 and 8 show comparisons

Fig. 7. Compressive modulus parallel to the building direction as a function of

glass bead volume fraction.

231

Fig. 8. Compressive modulus perpendicular to the building direction as a function of glass bead volume fraction.

between the experimentally measured values and the predicted

values for the tensile and the compressive moduli, for the two
different building directions. These comparisons indicate that
our experimentally measured values are in good agreement with
the values predicted by Halpins model.
Fig. 10 shows a schematic of the FGM and the corresponding cross-sectional SEM micrographs of the FGM compression
specimen. As the volume fraction of glass beads increases, more
glass beads are visible in micrographs. The stepwise changes in
composition and good bonding in the composition transitional
interface regions are verifiable in the SEM micrographs. The
results indicate successful fabrication of a 1D FGM of Nylon11 and glass beads with step increments of 10% in glass bead
volume fraction built in a single uninterrupted SLS process run.
While previous researchers have built functionally graded parts

Fig. 9. Compressive strain at yield as a function of glass bead volume fraction.

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H. Chung, S. Das / Materials Science and Engineering A 437 (2006) 226234

Fig. 10. Schematic description of an FGM compression test specimen comprising four stepwise composition gradients, SEM micrographs of each composition in
the fabricated FGM specimen, and SEM micrographs of composition interfaces in the fabricated FGM specimen.

with a material gradient in the plane of each layer [23,24],

this work represents one of the first such demonstrations of a
macroscopic 3D polymer composite part with a 1D material
gradient in the build direction, built using a commercial SLS
machine.
The mean value of the compressive modulus of the fabricated FGM is 1608.9 35.2 MPa and the strain at yield is
0.0314 0.0005 mm/mm. The compressive modulus was compared with the simulation results from ABAQUS finite element
analysis (FEA) software. For the FEA, 3900 elements, 4600
nodes and the C3D8 element type were used for computations
on the design of the FGM compression specimen. Only the elastic region was considered for comparing the modulus, assuming
that Poissons ratio of the FGM is constant and no slip on the
boundary. All other testing conditions including load and test
speed were set to the values used in the actual testing. The modulus calculated from the ABAQUS simulation is 1801.3 MPa.
The calculated value exceeds the measured value by 12%. This
difference likely arises from the assumption and boundary conditions that were used in the ABAQUS simulation. Although a
25.4 mm long cylinder with 12.7 mm diameter having four different compositions, each of 6.35 mm thickness was fabricated
as mentioned earlier, differences exist between the designed and
fabricated specimen dimensions. This could also result in the dif-

ference between the calculated and the measured value. Table 4

shows the comparison between the designed and fabricated specimen dimensions.
The fabricated length of the 1D FGM part was measured from
the cross-sectional optical micrographs. Although the errors that
arise from defining the interfaces are included since the interfaces are not sharp enough to distinguish from the micrographs,
the biggest difference between the designed and fabricated specimen dimension is 8.8% in the pure Nylon-11 region. The mean
difference is 6.15% and overall fabricated part is bigger than the
design by 2.6%.
3.4. Demonstration FGM components
Two prototype components were manufactured to demonstrate the SLS-based FGM approach described in this article. The
first demonstration component is a compliant gripper, shown in
Fig. 11. Compliant systems are single-piece, flexible structures
that are designed to generate desired motions by undergoing
elastic deformation upon the application of external forces [33].
The upper part of this compliant gripper has to be hard and stiff
to grasp an object properly while the lower part has to be flexible
to efficiently generate the motions under the action of applied
forces. A 40.64 mm long component with four different com-

Table 4
Dimensional accuracy as a function of glass beads composition
Material composition
Pure Nylon-11
Nylon-11 + 10% glass beads
Nylon-11 + 20% glass beads
Nylon-11 + 30% glass beads
Total

Designed length (mm)

Fabricated length (mm)

Deviation (%)

6.35
6.35
6.35
6.35

6.91
6.60
6.65
5.89

8.8
3.9
4.7
7.2

25.40

26.05

2.6

H. Chung, S. Das / Materials Science and Engineering A 437 (2006) 226234

233

Fig. 11. Schematic description of a compliant gripper and the corresponding FGM component fabricated by SLS.

Fig. 12. Schematic description of a rotator cuff scaffold and the corresponding FGM component fabricated by SLS.

positions, each of 10.16 mm length was fabricated using the

same technique as that utilized for the 1D FGM compression
specimen.
The second demonstration component is a tissue engineering scaffold prototype for rotator cuff repair. The rotator cuff is
composed of four muscles and their tendons, and helps to lift
and rotate the arm and to stabilize the ball of the shoulder within
the joint. The goal of rotator cuff repair is to reattach good quality tendon to the location on the arm bone from which it was
torn. The design of this scaffold and the corresponding fabricated part are shown in Fig. 12 along with material compositions
and corresponding property gradations in the investigated material systems. An actual, implantable scaffold will likely involve
a FGM incorporating different composition blends of a bioresorbable polymer (e.g. polycaprolactone) and a biocompatible
ceramic (e.g. calcium phosphate).
4. Conclusions
In this paper, a 3D systems SinterstationTM 2000 machine
was used for conducting experiments on Rilsan D80 Nylon-11
and blends of this Nylon-11 with different volume fractions of
glass beads (1030%). The optimal processing parameters for
selective laser sintering of the above compositions were determined by a systematic design of experiments (DOE). Optical
microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used

for characterizing microstructures of the resulting parts. These

experimentally determined optimal processing parameters were
compared with those predicted by numerical heat transfer model
and were found to be in good agreement.
In order to design and fabricate 1D functionally graded compliant systems, knowledge of mechanical properties as a function
of material composition is necessary. To address this need, the
tensile and compressive mechanical properties for each composition and for a 1D functionally graded composition processed
to near-full density by SLS were evaluated. The experimentally measured tensile and compressive moduli were compared
with those predicted by a theoretical model, expressing good
agreement.
Finally, the fabrication of 1D functionally graded polymer
composite components was successfully demonstrated. Two
different component designs for a compliant gripper and a rotator cuff scaffold were fabricated. This demonstration takes an
important step towards extending SLS as a powerful technique
to build geometrically complex components utilizing heterogeneous material compositions with FGM interfaces, once appropriate delivery systems are developed [34,35].
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by NSF Grant # DMI 0115205. The
authors thank Eiji Saito and Scott J. Hollister of the Biomedi-

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H. Chung, S. Das / Materials Science and Engineering A 437 (2006) 226234

cal Engineering Department at the University of Michigan for

providing the rotator cuff scaffold design.
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