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Abstract

The invention is in the field of additive manufacturing. According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an additive manufacturing process for producing a printed article, comprising the step of sintering a powder composition comprising a thermoplastic elastomer, wherein the powder composition has a melting onset temperature Tm,onset and a melting peak temperature Tm,peak, which are measured according to ISO 11357-1/3 (2009), wherein Tm,peak minus Tm,onset is 30° C. or less; and wherein a test article printed from the powder composition has a rebound resilience of 50% or more, measured according to DIN 53512. According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a powder composition suitable for additive manufacturing sintering processes comprising the steps of: (a) providing a starting material comprising a thermoplastic elastomer; (b) heating the starting material of step (a) or the size-reduced material of step (c) to a temperature sufficient to increase the melting onset temperature of the material, thereby obtaining an annealed material; and (c) reducing the size of the starting material of step (a) or the annealed material of step (b) into a powder having a D50 particle size value of 20-150 m, thereby obtaining a size-reduced material, wherein size reduction step (c) is performed before or after heating step (b).

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First Claim