Powder bed fusing thermoplastic polymers

1. A method of manufacturing a three-dimensional article comprising: providing a powder composition including at least one ultrafine, spherical polyetherimide powder having a glass transition temperature (Tg) of at least 150 degrees C.; and powder bed fusing the powder composition to form a three-dimensional article;

wherein the at least one ultrafine, high Tg, spherical polyetherimide powder is made by a process comprising (a) dissolving polyetherimide in an organic solvent capable of dissolving the polyetherimide to form a solution; (b) emulsifying the solution by combining the solution with water and a first surfactant to form an emulsion; (c) transferring the emulsion into a receiving water containing a second surfactant to remove the organic solvent and form a slurry; and (d) recovering polyetherimide particles of less than 75 micron diameter.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the powder composition comprises between 50 to 100 weight percent of the at least one ultrafine, spherical polyetherimide powder, based on the weight of polymeric materials in the powder composition.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spherical polyetherimide powder has a glass transition temperature of more than 150° C. and less than 350° C.

4. The method of any claim 1 , wherein the spherical polyetherimide powder has a glass transition temperature of more than 200° C. and less than 300° C.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the solvent is a member selected from the group of methylene chloride, chloroform, and combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the surfactant is anionic, cationic or non-ionic surfactant or combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polyethermide powder has a weight average molecular weight of between 1,000 and 150,000 Daltons.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one ultrafine spherical polyetherimide powder is monomodal and has a mean particle of 10 to 75 micron diameter and the amount of powder particles smaller than 10 micron diameter is less than 2 percent by volume.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adding a flow agent or to the powder composition.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the flow agent is chosen from the group consisting of a hydrated silica, amorphous alumina, a glassy silica, a glassy phosphate, a glassy borate, a glassy oxide, titania, talc, mica, a fumed silica, kaolin, attapulgite, calcium silicate, alumina, and magnesium silicate and combinations thereof.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the amount of the flow agent is from 0.05% to 5% by weight of the powder composition.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thermoplastic polymer powder is chosen from polyetherimides, polysulfones, and polyarylsulfones and combinations thereof; and powder bed fusing the powder composition to form a three-dimensional article.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least two powder compositions are employed and each powder composition has a different mean particle size, thereby forming a polymodal powder composition.

14. A three-dimensional sintered article resulting from the method of claim 1 .

15. A method of manufacturing a three dimensional article comprising the steps of: (1) depositing a quantity of a powder composition including at least one ultrafine, spherical polyethermide powder on a support surface; (2) leveling the composition to form a smooth layer on the support surface; (3) then directing an energy beam over a predetermined target area on the support surface causing the composition to form an integral layer; and (4) repeating steps (1) to (3) to form additional layers that are integrally bonded to adjacent layers to form a three-dimensional article, wherein the powder composition includes at least one ultrafine, spherical polyethermide powder having a glass transition temperature (Tg) of at least 150 degrees C., and wherein the at least one ultrafine, spherical polyethermide powder is made by the steps of: (a) dissolving a thermoplastic polymer material in a solvent to form a solution, wherein the thermoplastic polymer is soluble in the solvent, the solvent has a boiling point that is less than 100° C. and the solvent is immiscible with water; (b) emulsifying the solution by combining the solution with de-ionized water and a first surfactant under agitation conditions sufficient to form an emulsion; (c) transferring the emulsion into a de-ionized receiving water, the receiving water also containing a second surfactant and removing the solvent and form a slurry; (d) pre-filtering the slurry to remove any macro particles or contaminates; (e) filtering the slurry to form a wet cake; (f) filtering the slurry to form a wet cake; (g) drying the washed wet cake under heat and vacuum; and (h) recovering particles of thermoplastic polymer powder of less than 75 micron diameter.