Figure 3 Surface morphology of the samples with the layer thickness of 200 um Figure 3 and Figure 4 illustrate the surface morphology of each sample observed under ar optical microscope, with 200-um and 300- um thickness, respectively. The figures clearly assure that the appearance of the surface can possibly be used as an index to assess the quality of the samples. As the NR is naturally an unsaturated polymer, the material is highly vulnerable to ar excess heat due to its thermal degradation mechanism. As a result, the samples became somewha tacky when the laser energy density was too high. The degradation of the rubber can be observec by the shiny surfaces and also the physical condition of a tacky surface shown through the micrographs. On the other hand, when the laser energy density is scarce, sufficient heat is no transferred into the layer of the NR latex. If this is the case, the 3D part cannot be formed, sinc« the solidified line after the laser exposure is rather flimsy to connect to the neighboring line.