Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)

Introduction

The emergence of 3-D printing has introduced an innovative as well as the interesting model of designing objects in the context of developing digital designs into three-dimensional objects. The process is both convenient as well as affordable in the developing of prototypes and finished products, the main reason it has become famous among investors, businesses as well as hobbyists. The creation of 3D objects encompasses the use of an additive process whereby an object is created through the laying down of successive layers of structure material until the object has been created. Each of the layers can be seen in the form of a thinly sliced horizontal cross section of the eventual object (Olakanmi, Cochrane & Dalgarno, 2015). One of the diverse 3D technologies employed in the world today is the selective layer sintering.

In the selective sintering process, there is the fusing of tiny particles of ceramic, glass or plastic together through the use of heat from a high-powered laser to form a solid, three-dimensional object. The sintering technique has been adopted widely in the creation of everyday objects as porcelain, bricks, and jewelry. In the same way that all the other 3D technologies work, the creation of an object using the SLS techniques entails the use of an SLS machine that is a computer aided design (CAD) file. In this case, CAD files are consequently converted to a.STL format that can is going to be understood by the 3D printing machine (Shirazi, et al., 2015).  The material can be printed using this technique range from anything as ceramics, nylon, and glass to some metals that include silver, aluminum or steel.

In all the 3D printing techniques, the materials that are to be used are normally powdered. Before the commencement of the printing, all the powdered materials have to be dispersed above the build platform in a thin layer, with the build platform always being inside the SLS machine. The consequent step encompasses the directing of a direct layer down to the platform. The control of the layer is by a computer, an attribute which makes the computer designer to easily determine what is going to be fabricated using the laser (Shirazi, et al., 2015).  Once the laser has been directed to the platform, it traces cross sections of the designed digital object onto the powdered material.

The main reason that is played by the laser is in the heating of the powder below the melting point fusing the small particles together for them to forms a solid object. Once the initial layer has been developed, the platform of the SLS machine drops by approximately 0.1mm thus exposing the new layer of the powdered material of an additional cross section of the object that is going to be traced and fused together by the laser. The process consequently repeats itself over and over until there is the fabrication of the entire object (Shirazi, et al., 2015).  Once the fabrication is complete, the object is given time to cool off properly before it is removed from the SLS machine.

                                                           

Reference

Olakanmi, E. O., Cochrane, R. F., & Dalgarno, K. W. (2015). A review on selective laser sintering/melting (SLS/SLM) of aluminium alloy powders: Processing, microstructure, and properties. Progress in Materials Science, 74, 401-477.

Shirazi, S. F. S., Gharehkhani, S., Mehrali, M., Yarmand, H., Metselaar, H. S. C., Kadri, N. A., & Osman, N. A. A. (2015). A review on powder-based additive manufacturing for tissue engineering: selective laser sintering and inkjet 3D printing. Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 16(3), 033502.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in nursing essay help USA if you need a similar paper you can place your order from custom college papers.