Modeling of selective laser sintering for PC powder

Numerical computation model for the thermal process of selective laser sintering of PC (polycarbonate) powder was presented to predict the sintered depth. The factors of thermal physical properties of the material varying with the temperature and the non-uniformed distribution of laser intensity across the beam diameter are taken into account. The problem is formulated by a three-dimensional transient heat transmission model and solved by the finite differential method. The results show that the predicted sintered depth agrees with the measured value.