About LSP Service
January 21st, 2010 • About 3D Printing
It’s not a secret that selective laser prototyping was launched as SLS since 1999. To the best of our knowledge, the owerview of this main quick prototyping technique went very smoothly. We can securely presume that a few years later, several laser sintering machines are producing plastic parts of a constantly increasing size and for an ever-growing series of applications. It will be useful for you to find out that SLS can be applied in every phase of the product development cycle, from the production of one-shot prototyps to practical test parts and small production series. In fact, laser sintering is appropriate for larger amounts of components, even for group of 50 to 100 pieces and more. It is important to note that laser sintering is also a method by which parts are built layer by layer. In addition, the basic material contain of pulverize with particle sizes in the order of magnitude of 50 µm. If we are making a closer examination of this dilemma, successive powder layers are spread on top of each other. Afterwards, after deposition, a PC controlled CO2 laser beam scans the surface and selectively binds jointly the pulverize particles of the corresponding cross segment of the creation.
It is very principal to take into account that for the period of laser contact, the powder temperature rises above the glass transition point after which adjacent particles flow together and this process is called sintering. As far as my personal experience can be taken into account, laser sintering is the supreme solution for such types as fully functional models with mechanical properties comparable to those of injection molded parts or group of small components as a cost-effective alternative to injection molding or large and complex functional parts up to 700×380x580 mm in one piece or even for the production of complex, unique, personalized designs designed as once-only products or in small groups. If you think to use SLS, you wouldn’t be unhappy as this process is quick, economical, it produces durable and practical, as well as large and complex parts. In addition, it is possible to perform direct fabrication of small amount projects and there is a design independence as well as a wide range of finishing degrees.
As a matter of fact, this technique can deal with various types of materials. Among the most accepted is polyamide. Beyond any doubt you have to pay serious attention to the fact that being a solid material, the powder has the nice-looking feature of being self-supporting for the generated product sections – this makes supports redundant. There is also a need to add that the polyamide material allows the creation of fully practical models with high mechanical and thermal resistance. The other material is glass-filled polyamide. The thing is that the use of PA powder filled with glass particles (has a much higher thermal resistance and is normally used in functional tests with aggresive temperature loads. And, finally, alumide is also broadly used. As far as this issue is concerned, alumide is a blend of aluminium powders and Polyamide powder, which permit non-porous, metallic-looking mechanism to be machined not difficultly and is resistant to high temperatures.
