Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is one of additive manufacturing technology. Plastic powder serves as the starting material of SLS Printing process to produce plastic components using the energy input of a laser beam.
The laser sintering process is divided into 3 recurring steps:
– Application of the powder layer
– Adjustment of the temperature
– Exposure of the current layer
The manufacturing process is conducted inside the printer’s build chamber. The SLS powder is applied onto a thin layer (typically 0.1 mm) above a fabrication platform with temperature set to just below the material’s melting temperature
Selective Laser Sintering Process |
The powder requires excellent flowability and good particle size distribution in the range of 10 to 100 µm. This is to ensure that the loose powders are tightly packed together.
The layer of powder is then exposed to a laser beam. The beam melts the powder at correct cross sections of the desired component and fuses it with the layer underneath. Once a layer has been exposed, the printer lowers down the fabrication platform and the next layer of powder is applied.
The powder bed that consists of loose powder & exposed part now functions as a support. The fabrication platform is gradually lowered so that further layers can be added on top. The build chamber then filled additively from top to bottom with speed of approximately 10 mm/h. Typically several hundreds up to thousands small to medium sized parts and components are being fabricated in this step.
Selective Laser Sintering Components Cleaned & Cleared |
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