It’s not a deep secret that selective laser prototyping was launched as SLS since 1999.   To the best of our knowledge, the review of this major quick manufacturing technique went very well. We can carefully assume that a few years later, several laser sintering machines are producing plastic parts of a constantly amplifying size and for an ever-growing chain of applications. You need also to be aware of that that selective laser sintering can be used in every stage of the product development cycle, from the manufacturing of one-shot models to practical test parts and small production series. In point of fact, laser sintering is proper for larger amounts of components, even for series of 50 to 100 pieces and more. It is critical to note that selective laser sintering is also a program by which parts are built layer by layer. In addition, the basic material consists of pulverize with particle sizes in the order of magnitude of 50 µm. If we are making a closer analysis of this problem, succeeding powder layers are spread on top of each other. Afterwards, after deposition, a computer controlled CO2 laser beam scans the surface and selectively binds jointly the powder particles of the corresponding cross segment of the product.

It is very important to take into account that for the period of laser exposure, the powder temperature rises above the glass transition point after which adjacent particles flow together and this process is named sintering. As far as my personal practice can be taken into account, laser sintering is the supreme technolog for such types as fully practical models with mechanical properties comparable to those of injection molded parts or series of small components as a cost-effective alternative to injection molding or large and complicated practical parts up to 700×380x580 mm in one piece or even for the performing of complex, exclusive, personalized designs built as once-only products or in small batches. If you think to use SLS, you wouldn’t be disappointed as this technique is rapid, economical, it produces durable and functional, as well as large and complex parts. Besides, it is possible to perform direct production of small quantity projects and there is a design freedom as well as a wide range of finishing degrees.

As a matter of fact, this procedure might deal with different types of materials. Among the most popular is polyamide. Undoubtedly 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 mention that the polyamide material permit the creation of fully functional prototypes with high mechanical and temperature resistance. The other material is glass-filled polyamide. The thing is that the use of polyamide powder filled with glass particles (has a much higher thermal resistance and is normally applied in functional tests with aggresive temperature loads. And, finally, alumide is also widely 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 incomplex and is resistant to aggresive temperatures.