GOVT.

POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE KOTTAYAM

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 2011-2012

A SEMINAR REPORT
ON

SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING

SUBMITTED BY:

REGISTER NUMBER:

VINEE TH .K.V

89020412

Seminar MOCT

Report

11

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

GOVT. POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE KOTTAYAM

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

2011-2012

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that this Seminar titled

SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING presented By VINEETH KV Reg. no.89020412

student of final year "MECHANICAL ENGINEERING in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Diploma in Mechanical Engineering under The department of technical Education, Kerala, during the academic year 2011-2012.
Internal Examiner:

.. .

External Examiner:

Seminar co-ordinator: Head of section:

. Place: ..

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

Date: ..

SELECTIVE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all I thank the ALMIGHTY for the successful completion of this seminar of mine. I am extremely thankful to our Principal Mrs. C.G. Anitha owed me to conduct this seminar at the college campus which had taught many lessons in the field of public speaking. My special thanks goes to Mr. REJIKUMAR P M who is the Head of the Dept. of MECHANICAL ENGINEERING my seminar guide for helping me to take the seminar on this topic also for the kind help he has extended to me for the preparation on the seminar. I would be failing in my duty if I dont express my gratitude to our seminar guide Mr. P.P RAVEENDRAN NAIR, Mr. SAJIKUMAR, Mr. RAJMOHANPILLAI, Mr. N BABU, Lectures in the department, who have given their presence throughout the conduct of the seminar and given me a lot of guidelines so that I could improve a lot in my seminar. I also thank to my Friends who have given me constant supports all throughout the preparation and the conduct of the seminar. Above all I wish to thank GOD almightily for the competition of this seminar work successfully.

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE VINEETH .K.V

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

ABSTRACT

Selective laser sintering (SLS) is technique by which parts are building layer by layer. The SLS is a free form fabrication method to create components by precise thermal fusing of powdered materials.

This is durable, economical and fast. The SLS is another form of rapid prototyping. This selective laser sintering (SLS) is one among the rapid prototyping which include stereo lithography (SLA). This method has also been extended to provide direct fabrication of metal and ceramic objects and tools. With this method we can make required and different prototype. This SLS can be used as a mass production prototyping.

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

CONTENTS
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

INTRODUCTION WHY RAPID PROTOTYPING NECESSARY? HIGHLIGHTS OF SLS THE TECHNOLOGY HOW IT WORKS THE PROCESS THE MATERIAL EXPERIMENTAL SETUP OF SLS OVERVIEW OF SLS PROTOTYPES MANUFACTURED BY SLS ADVANTAGES OF SLS LIMITATIONS OF SLS APPLICATIONS CONCLUSION REFERENCE

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

INTRODUCTION
Rapid Prototyping (RP) can be defined as a group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a part or assembly using three dimensional computer aided design (CAD) data. What is commonly considered to be the first RP technique, selective laser sintering was patented by CARL DECKARD A UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS GRADUATE STUDENT. The company was founded in 1989, and since then, a number of different RP techniques have become available. Rapid Prototyping has also been referred to as solid free-form manufacturing; computer automated manufacturing, and layered manufacturing. RP has obvious use as a vehicle for visualization. In addition RP models can be used for testing, such as well Icrlan airfoil shape is put into a wind tunnel RP models can be used to create male models for tooling, such as silicone rubber molds and investment casts. In some cases, the RP part can be the final part, but typically the RP materiel! Is not strong or accurate enough. When the RP material is suitable, highly convoluted shape" (including parts nested within parts) can be produced because of the nature of RP. There is a multitude of experimental RP methodologies either in development or used by small groups of individuals.

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

WHY RAPID PROTOTYPING NECESSARY?

The reasons of Rapid Prototyping are
To decrease development time. To decrease costly mistakes To minimize sustaining engineering changes. To extend product lifetime by adding necessary features and

eliminating redundant features early in the design.

Rapid Prototyping decreases development time by allowing corrections to a product to be made early in the process. By giving engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and purchasing a look at the product the design process, mistakes can be corrected and changes can be while they are still inexpensive. The trends in manufacturing industries to emphasize the following
Increasing number of variants of products. Increasing product complexity. Decreasing product lifetime before obsolescence. Decreasing delivery time.

Rapid Prototyping improves product development by enabling better communication in a concurrent engineering environment.

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

HIGHLIGHTS OF SLS
It is patented in 1989. Considerably stronger than stereo lithography. Laser beam selectively fuses powder materials; nylon, elastomers

and so on metals.
Process is simple. There is no milling or masking steps required. Powdering, porous surface unless sealant is used. Sealant also

strengthens the part.

Uncured materials are easily removed after a build by brushing of.

THE TECHNOLOGY
Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

The selective laser sintering is a free form fabrication method to create components by precise thermal fusing (sintering) of powdered materials. Parts of complex geometries can build in successive layers that define subsequent cross sections of the component.

The sinter powder is powder fed to the process chamber from two cartridges flanking the partly built product. This allows for bidirectional powder feeding to the roller that lays powder across the top of the product, thus improving building speed. Unsintered powder is relumed to the powder feeding cartridges, to be recycled. The process is a C02 type ol'50watt power. The process chamber is Oiled with nitrogen to obtain safe materials sintering conditions.

HOW IT WORKS
Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

The SLS technology uses a C02 laser to sinter (fuse) a variety of thermoplastic and metal powders to "grow" 3D objects layer-bylayer from 3D electronic data (STL files). Because this is an additive process, highly complex geometries can be built without issue; and, because the powder holds the parts, no support structures have to be added and removed. The key advantage of SLS is its ability to rapidly produce durable, functional objects for a wide variety of applications.

Working parts and assemblies with good detail and surface Variety of material: rigid and flexible plastics, fully dense metal, rubber like elastomer, foundry friendly patterns Capable of living hinges,, high-flex snaps, high stress and heat tolerance and service as short-run tooling Can be finished and painted for presentation, demonstration and video reproduction Dimensional tolerancing with thousandths of a inch Delivery of most parts and patterns in just a few working days

finishing

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

THE PROCESS

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) parts are built with successive by which parts are built layer by layer. The basic material consists of

layers'of powder selectively bound by a laser beam. SLS is also a technique

powder with paticle sizes in the order of magnitude of 50 11m. Successive powder layers are spread on top of each other. After deposition, a computer controlled C02
Laser beam scans the surface and selectively binds together the

powder particles of the corresponding cross section of the product. During laser exposure, the powder temperature rises above the glass transition point after which adjacent particles how together. This process is called sintering.

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

THE MATERIAL

The parts are built in polyamide (PA). The powder being a solid material has an attractive feature of being self supporting for the, generated product sections. This makes supports redundant. The polyamide material allows the production of fully functional prototypes with high mechanical and thermal resistance. The use of PA powder filled within glass particles (PA-GF) has a much higher thermal resistance and is typically used in functional test with high loads. The polyamide SLS parts have excellent long term stability and are resistant, against most chemicals. They can be, made water tight by impregnation. The PA material is used as bio compatible, food safe and not harmful to health or environment.

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP OF SLS

Thermoplastic powder is spread by a roller over a surface of a build

cylinder. The piston in the cylinder moves down one object layer thickness to accommodate the new layer of powder. The powder delivery system is similar in function to a build cylinder. Here a piston moves upwards incrementally to supply a measured quantity of powder for each layer. A layer beam is then traced over the surface of this tightly compacted powder to selectively melt and bond it to form a layer of the object. The fabrication chamber is maintained at a temperature just below the melting point of the powder so that heat from the laser need only elevate the temperature slightly to cause sintering. This greatly speeds up the process. The process is repeated until the entire object is fabricated.

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

After the object is fully formed the piston is raised to elevate it. Excess powder is simply brushed away and final manual finishing may be carried out. No supports are required with this method. Since overhangs and under cuts are supported by the solid power bed. It may take a considerable length of cool down time before the part can be removed from the machine. Large parts with thin sections may require as much as two days of cooling time.

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

OVERVIEW OF SLS
This overview bypasses many intricacies of the processes involved. Selective laser sintering is very similar to Stereo Lithography (SLA) with the exception of using powdered raw material rather than photo-sensitive liquid as the build material. The system consists of an X-Y axis controlled laser, a Z axis controlled table, and a bed of powdered raw material that is maintained at a constant level. Prototypes are created with the table initially positioned below the surface of the powder a distance equal to (The thickness resolution (or the part. The laser traces a two dimensional crosssection of the item at that level, fusing the powder touched by the laser. The table then descends a distance equal to the thickness resolution and powdered media is replenished over the solidified layer. This process continues until the entire prototype has been solidified. At this time the model is lifted out of the media bed. cleaned of loose material and smoothed to remove the Z axis stair-steps created by the process. "Trapped volumes" are not a problem for SLS models. Support structures arc generally not required. A good selection of materials is available for this process, ranging from a rubber-like polymer to hard plastic.

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

PROTOTYPES MANUFACTURED BY SLS

(a) AIRFOI

(b) PAINTBALL-MASK

(c) IMPELLER

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

ADVANTAGES OF SLS

It offers the key advantage ol'making functional parts in essentially

final materials.
The system is mechanically more complex than SLA and most other

technology
The method has extended to provide direct fabrication of metals and

ceramic objects and tools.

Since the objects are sintered, they are porous.

SLS are Fast Economical Durable and functional parts Large and complex parts Small series, produced in one building process No support

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

Structure' necessary

SELECTIVE

All kinds of finishing degrees can be made water light

LIMITATIONS OF SLS
1. Surface finish: The surface of an SLS part is powdery, like the base material whose particles are fused together without complete Melting. The smoother surface of an SLA part typically wins over SLS. 2. Dimensional accuracy: SLA is more accurate immediately after completion of the model, but SLS is prone to residual stresses that are caused by long term curing and environmental stresses. Both SLS and SLA suiler from inaccuracy, but SLS is less predictable because of the variety of materials and process parameters. 3. Accuracy: the accuracy of a rapid prototype is dependent on many factors. Upon completion of the prototype the SLA provides greater accuracy than SLS.

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

APPLICATIONS
Selective Laser Sintering is the ideal solution for fully functional prototypes and series. Rapid Manufacturing.

Fully functional prototypes and series

1.

Parts for mechanical and thermal tests

The polyamides material allows the production of strong, durable parts that can be used tor extensive functional testing. Sintered products have mechanical properties comparable to those of injection molded PA 12 parts, typical applications are snap fits but it is also possible to produce working hinges.

Polyamide parts with glass filling have a much higher thermal resistance and are perfectly suited for lighting elements and ventilation systems or products that require high thermal loads. Apart from their use as test products, the functional SLS parts often also need to be used at the same time for a visual/csthetical control or dimensional check.

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

2.

Scries of small plastic parts

SLS is an interesting and cost-effective alternative to injection molding

(Rapid Tooling). With the P 700 machine which has a large build area, a series of small pieces can be built in one single laser sintering process. This dramatically decreases the price, as the cost of an SLS part depends on its volume. Or in other words, the cost is defined by the amount of powder it takes to build it and not by an initial investment in an injection molding tool. Moreover, series of SLS parts are available in a few days. So no need for high start-up investments, no long lead times to produce a mould and injection mould the parts, no difficulties in case the parts are complex.

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

Component of a vacuum cleaner, buiii on the EOSINT P700 with a build volume of700x380x580mm

3, Large and complex functional parts

The EOSINT P 700 machine can build large, complex geometries in one piece, up to 700x380x580mm. The number of layers to be built is significantly reduced as large parts can be built horizontally, which considerably shortens the building process. Parts exceeding the P 700' maximum dimensions .can be built in multiple pieces and put together afterwards. The process of gluing sub-parts and assembling components can be done in the most accurate and secure way using the Rapid Fit system. Rapid Fit allows to firmly position the parts on a unique support

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

system with individualized fixtures, supporting the part on well positioned points.

CONCLUSION
Selective laser sintering provides exact representations of yotir complex designs in just days. This means that without delay, you receive a superior design communication tool. Using the physical prototype, you can detect errors early and correct them before it's too late. It all adds up to hitting aggressive deadlines critical to time-to-market reductions.

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical

Seminar Report 2011-12 LASER SINTERING

SELECTIVE

Dept.of GPTC, Kottayam

mechanical