Application Research On Selective Laser Sintering

Rapid Prototyping (RP), a kind of new technology of manufacturing developed in I 980s, combines all the new achievements in Computer, Numerical Control, CAD/CAM and Laser science. According to the CAD model of a part, It can fabricate the prototype or its?mould directly. After ten years development, Rapid Prototyping tends to Rapid Tooling and Rapid manufacturing. As an important branch of RP, Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) was cared greatly by all researchers of manufacturing for its?widely uses in the sintering of metal, polymer, ceramic and other powder. In this paper, the machine, process and application of SLS were studied, the research presented creative and conclusive works as follows. 1. A new SLS control system RAP-Il was built successfully. It used one single Center Process Unit, can work in multiple tasks and parallel process mode. The moving speed of each axis is controlled by hardware. at the same time, moving distance, by software. About the software designing, OOP and OpenGL are used widely. Just because what we said above, the control system we built has good generality, real time character and expansibility, the man-machine interface is very easy to use. 2. RP process was studied systematically. Adequate sintering parameters of materials normally used in SLS were gotten, then with these parameters, some typical parts were fabricated. 3. The Rapid Manufacturing of precise casting mould was realized successfully. Then, with mould we made, metallic parts were gotten through casting. 4. The Rapid Manufacturing of fusible pattern for Investment casting was realized successfully. 5. Combining with traditional electroforming, the rapid manufacturing of fusible pattern mold for Investment Casting was realized successfully, this offered a new technology of applying SLS in precise casting. 6. The Rapid Manufacturing of metal parts and Electro discharge machining electrode mould was realized successfully. Then, with electrode we got, metallic moulds were gotten. This method offered a new way for EDM electrode manufacturing.