Energy delivery for selective laser sintering: issues and directions - a review

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is a leading technology in the important new area of Solid Freeform Fabrication (also called Rapid Prototyping). Selective Laser Sintering produces freeform parts directly from a CAD model by building the parts in successive layers from a powder. A laser is used to selectively melt each layer of powder to form the part. The laser beam is scanned across the powder using two galvanometer scanners. The energy delivery system (laser, optics, scanner and controls) is a critical component technology of SLS. Projects with the objective of improving the energy delivery system are underway at Clemson University.