Painting SLS parts and Their Mechanical Properties 1

jerry1423 · May 25, 2017

I build prototypes at my place of employment and have assumed that spray painting (with latex paint) 3D printed SLS parts increases their mechanical properties, but I recently read an on-line article that contradicted that.
Does anybody have experience with the affect of latex spray paint on 3D SLS printed parts

btrueblood · May 25, 2017

Latex rubber (the material in latex paint that is left behind when the water goes away) has typical tensile strength and modulus some 1 to 3 orders of magnitude less (ie 1/10 to 1/1000) than typical thermoplastic resins, so no, I don't think there's much chance of any significant improvement beyond cosmetics.

Solvent-based coatings that can fusion-bond to the plastics and form compatible resins/alloys might give some improvement.

I have had SLA parts (of some kind of acrylate polymer) dipped in acrylic resin to seal them, but the resin did not impart a significant change in tensile strength, it just made the parts water-tight and more transparent.

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Painting SLS parts and Their Mechanical Properties 1

jerry1423

Mechanical

btrueblood

Mechanical

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