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Civil-Comp Proceedings
ISSN 1759-3433
CCP: 67
COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES FOR MATERIALS, COMPOSITES AND COMPOSITE STRUCTURES
Edited by: B.H.V. Topping
Paper I.7

A Simulation Model for Direct Selective Laser Sintering of Metal Powders

X.C. Wang and J.P. Kruth

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper
X.C. Wang, J.P. Kruth, "A Simulation Model for Direct Selective Laser Sintering of Metal Powders", in B.H.V. Topping, (Editor), "Computational Techniques for Materials, Composites and Composite Structures", Civil-Comp Press, Edinburgh, UK, pp 57-71, 2000. doi:10.4203/ccp.67.1.7
Abstract
Selective laser sintering (SLS) of metal powders to produce 3D parts is a new technology. In order to improve the SLS process, it is necessary to investigate the influence of processing and material parameters. An analytical ray tracing model is developed to simulate the energy absorption and penetration in SLS. The model is applied to a Fe-Cu powder mixture, irradiated by Nd:YAG or by CO2 laser. It gives an evaluation of the total energy incoupling and optical penetration of the laser beam in powders and an estimation of the sintering zone dimension. The simulation results will help us to get a better understanding of the physical phenomena involved, to identify the processing window and to optimize the SLS process.

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