SUMMARY

Electrically conductive polymer composites are suitable for use in the manufacture of antistatic products and components for electronic interconnects, fuel cells and electromagnetic shielding. The most widely used processing techniques for producing electrically conductive polymer composites place an inherent constraint on the geometry and architecture of the part that can be fabricated. Hence, this thesis proposes to use selective laser sintering (SLS), a rapid prototyping technique, to fabricate and characterize electrically conductive nanocomposites of Nylon-12 filled with 4% by weight of carbon black. The effect of laser power and the scan speed on the flexural modulus and part density of the nanocomposite has been studied. The set of parameters that yielded the maximum flexural modulus and part density has been used to fabricate specimens to study the tensile, impact, rheological and viscoelastic properties. The electrical conductivity of the nanocomposite has also been investigated. The mechanical and electrical properties of the nanocomposites produced by SLS have been compared with those produced by injection molding. The proposed research will develop physical models to explain the effects of the processing technique on the resulting structure and properties of the materials. This will be accomplished by studying the morphology of the nanocomposites by means of x-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, small angle light scattering and electron microscopy. A model of the SLS process that accounts for sintering induced densification and thermal degradation of the polymer will also be developed.