selective laser sintering Equipment

The primary benefit of the SLS rapid prototyping process is the durability of the materials.? The SLS process has arguably the widest range of engineering-grade rapid prototyping materials available in the rapid prototyping industry.?These include the nylon-based DuraForm and DuraForm GF for functional plastic rapid prototypes, CastForm for rapid prototype investment casting patterns, Somos 201 and FR85A for rubber-like rapid prototypes and LaserForm A6/bronze for metal rapid prototypes.? With the exception of the LaserForm metal material, the SLS rapid prototyping materials also do not require any post-curing and are ready for use after minimal clean up and finishing.? There are other materials currently in development that will not only be valuable for rapid prototyping applications but also for end-use production applications

Originally developed at the University of Texas and commercialized by DTM Corporation (now 3D Systems), the SLS rapid prototyping process uses the heat of a CO₂ laser to sinter or melt powdered thermoplastic materials (or thermoplastic binders in high temperature resistant powdered materials such as ceramics and metals) in layers of .003 to .006.? The laser is guided across the part bed by a scanning system and selectively sinters or melts the material based on cross-sectional slice information of the 3D CAD data file.?The part or parts are built in an atmosphere that controls the thermal distribution and thus requires very little laser power to sinter the material.? The powder in the build chamber acts as a support for the part during fabrication and thus no additional support structure is required.?SLS is able to produce parts with tolerances and detail similar to SLA, but with the added advantage of strength.? Although new SLA rapid prototyping resins have proven to be stronger than in the past, they do not have the durability and long-term stability of SLS rapid prototype and rapid production thermoplastics that do not lose shape, post-cure and/or become brittle over time.