A Study of the Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) System with Dual Laser System

Abstract

A solid freeform fabrication (SFF) system using selective laser sintering (SLS) is currently recognized as a leading process and SLS extends the applications to machinery and automobiles due to the various materials employed. In order to develop a more elaborate and rapid system for fabricating large objects compared to existing SLS, this study employs a new selective dual-laser sintering (SDLS) process. It contains a 3-axis, dynamic focusing scanner system for scanning large areas instead of the existing fθ lens used in commercial SLS. Therefore, the unique scanning path generation is necessary to eliminate the factors of quality deterioration in case of fabricating larger objects. Also, this paper will address development of an SFF system which employs the dual laser system and the unique scanning device. Experiments were performed to evaluate the effect of a scanning path and fabrication parameters on sintering process and to fabricate the various 3D objects using polymer powder.

Manufacture of polymer powders for the industrial SFF system by using SLS process

“…The selective laser sintering process was employed to apply the polyamide-12 powder to the SFF system. Kim et al [22] has developed the selective laser sintering process to increase the efficiency. The selective laser system which can scan divided two regions individually should be employed to develop SFF system capable of large size fabrication.…”

Fabrication of parts and their evaluation using a dual laser in the solid freeform fabrication system

“…In such a scenario, a single-laser scan path system for freeform fabrication through SLS has a limitation with respect to area to be fabricated. By using a dual-laser system theoretical fundamental experiments had been performed and attempted to prove applicability of the dual-laser approach (Kim et al, 2006a(Kim et al, ,b, 2007a.…”