Preparation of coated sand for selective laser sintering and optimization of baking process of sand moulds

A cold method was used to prepare coated sand for application in the selective laser sintering(SLS)process.Tensile strength,loss on ignition,gas evolution,and accuracy of the SLS samples were tested and analyzed,and the baking process was thoroughly investigated.Compared with coated sand prepared by the hot method,the cold method yields a more uniform and complete resin film on the sand's surface,resulting in enhanced tensile strength and accuracy.Additionally,the cold method requires a lower binder content to meet the same strength requirements,thereby minimizing gas evolution,reducing porosity defects,and ultimately improving casting quality.The coated sand samples prepared through the cold method exhibit superior accuracy,with a size error of within±0.4 mm.In contrast,the coated sand samples prepared by the hot method display a lower accuracy,with an average negative error of 2.1993 mm.The highest tensile strength could be attained by controlling the baking temperature within a suitable range(180-190°C),which can effectively reduce the generation of gas,thus contributing to improved overall performance.

Crack elimination and strength enhancement mechanisms of selective laser melted Si-modified Al−Mn−Mg−Er−Zr alloy

In order to increase the processability and process window of the selective laser melting(SLM)-fabricated Al−Mn−Mg−Er−Zr alloy,a novel Si-modified Al−Mn−Mg−Er−Zr alloy was designed.The effect of Si alloying on the surface quality,processability,microstructure,and mechanical properties of the SLM-fabricated alloy was studied.The results showed that introducing Si into the Al−Mn−Mg−Er−Zr alloy prevented balling and keyhole formation,refined the grain size,and reduced the solidification temperature,which eliminated cracks and increased the processability and process window of the alloy.The maximum relative density of the SLM-fabricated Si/Al−Mn−Mg−Er−Zr alloy reached 99.6%.The yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the alloy were(371±7)MPa and(518±6)MPa,respectively.These values were higher than those of the SLM-fabricated Al−Mn−Mg−Er−Zr and other Sc-free Al−Mg-based alloys.

Synthesis of Polymer Nanocomposites for Selective Laser Sintering （SLS）

This paper presents initial development of polymer application. PNC materials containing a polyamide （PA） and nano to improve the mechanical properties. Commercial polyamide 6 nanocomposites （PNC） material for rapid manufacturing （RM） particles （5 wt%） were produced by solution blending with the aim （PA6） was dissolved in formic acid （HCO2H） together with two different types of nano particle materials： yttrium stabilised zirconia （YSZ） and Hectorite clay （Benton 166） and spray-dried to create powder, creating powder with particle sizes in the range of 10-40 μm. The materials were processed on a CO2 selective laser sintering （SLS） experimental machine. Mechanical properties of the PNCs were evaluated and the results were compared with the unfilled base polymer. Good dispersion of additives was achieved by solution blending, however the PA6 was degraded during the material preparation and spray drying process which resulted in the formation of porous structure and low strength. However the addition of 5 （wt%） nano particles in the PA6 has shown to increase strength by an average of 50-60%. Further work on powder preparation is required in order to fully realize these performance benefits.

Recent developments in selective laser processes for wearable devices

Recently,the increasing interest in wearable technology for personal healthcare and smart virtual/augmented reality applications has led to the development of facile fabrication methods.Lasers have long been used to develop original solutions to such challenging technological problems due to their remote,sterile,rapid,and site-selective processing of materials.In this review,recent developments in relevant laser processes are summarized under two separate categories.First,transformative approaches,such as for laser-induced graphene,are introduced.In addition to design optimization and the alteration of a native substrate,the latest advances under a transformative approach now enable more complex material compositions and multilayer device configurations through the simultaneous transformation of heterogeneous precursors,or the sequential addition of functional layers coupled with other electronic elements.In addition,the more conventional laser techniques,such as ablation,sintering,and synthesis,can still be used to enhance the functionality of an entire system through the expansion of applicable materials and the adoption of new mechanisms.Later,various wearable device components developed through the corresponding laser processes are discussed,with an emphasis on chemical/physical sensors and energy devices.In addition,special attention is given to applications that use multiple laser sources or processes,which lay the foundation for the all-laser fabrication of wearable devices.

Effects of laser energy density on forming accuracy and tensile strength of selective laser sintering resin coated sands

Baozhu sand particles with size between 75 μm and 150 μm were coated by resin with the ratio of 1.5 wt.% of sands. Laser sintering experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of laser energy density(E = P/v), with different laser power(P) and scanning velocity(v), on the dimensional accuracy and tensile strength of sintered parts. The experimental results indicate that with the constant scanning velocity, the tensile strength of sintered samples increases with an increase in laser energy density; while the dimensional accuracy apparently decreases when the laser energy density is larger than 0.032 J·mm-2. When the laser energy density is 0.024 J·mm-2, the tensile strength shows no obvious change; but when the laser energy density is larger than 0.024 J·mm-2, the sample strength is featured by the initial increase and subsequent decrease with simultaneous increase of both laser power and scanning velocity. In this study, the optimal energy density range for laser sintering is 0.024-0.032 J·mm-2. Moreover, samples with the best tensile strength and dimensional accuracy can be obtained when P = 30-40 W and v = 1.5-2.0 m·s-1. Using the optimized laser energy density, laser power and scanning speed, a complex coated sand mould with clear contour and excellent forming accuracy has been successfully fabricated.

SOFTWARE SYSTEM FOR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING

The advent of rapid prototyping & manufacturing techniques represents a major breakthrough in production engineering. This paper is concerned with the software system aspects of the selective laser sintering (SLS),i.e.the issues that deal with an external geometric CAD model to automatically control the physical layering fabrication process as directly as possible ,regardless of the source of the model. The general issues are described and some key methods are given in this paper.

Morphology and Mechanical Properties of PS/Al_2O_3 Nanocomposites Based on Selective Laser Sintering

Selective laser sintering （SLS） is a new process to prepare the polystyrene （PS）/Al2O3 nanocomposites. In this paper, with different laser power and other processing parameters unchanged, the morphology, density and mechanical properties of the sintered specimens were investigated. It was found that nano-sized inorganic particles are uniformly located in the PS matrix and the maximum density of the sintered specimens with pure PS powder reaches 1.07 g/cm^3, higher than 1.04 g/cm^3 that of the sintered specimens with mixture powder. Due to strengthening and toughness of the nano-sized Al2O3 inorganic particles, the maximum notched impact strength and tensile strength of the sintered part mixed with nano-sized inorganic particles are improved greatly from 7.5 to 12.1 kJ/m^2 and from 6.5 to 31.2 MPa, respectively, under the same sintering condition.

Accuracy analysis of the part made by selected laser sintering

The effects of different factors, including the precision of selected laser sintering (SLS) equipment, sintering temperature, sintered thickness of individual layer and laser scanning route, on the SLS part accuracy have been analyzed and studied. Some measures are suggested in order to improve the part accuracy made by SLS.

Rapid casting technology based on selective laser sintering

Selective laser sintering(SLS),as a kind of additive manufacturing technology,which uses a laser beam to scan and heat powder material layer by layer to form parts(models),is widely used in the field of casting,mainly for preparing casting coated sand cores,investment casting patterns,etc.The SLS technique facilitates rapid casting and shortens the casting production periods by eliminating mold preparation.In this study,we reached conclusions for the basic principles and characteristics of SLS methods,and focused on the research status,key technology and development trend of SLS in the fields of forming coated sand-casting molds and investment casting patterns.

Advances in selective laser sintering of polymers

Polymers are widely used materials in aerospace,automotive,construction,medical devices and pharmaceuticals.Polymers are being promoted rapidly due to their ease of manufacturing and improved material properties.Research on polymer processing technology should be paid more attention to due to the increasing demand for polymer applications.Selective laser sintering(SLS)uses a laser to sinter powdered materials(typical polyamide),and it is one of the critical additive manufacturing(AM)techniques of polymer.It irradiates the laser beam on the defined areas by a computer-aided design three-dimensional(3D)model to bind the material together to create a designed 3D solid structure.SLS has many advantages,such as no support structures and excellent mechanical properties resembling injection moulded parts compared with other AM methods.However,the ability of SLS to process polymers is still affected by some defects,such as the porous structure and limited available types of SLS polymers.Therefore,this article reviews the current state-of-the-art SLS of polymers,including the fundamental principles in this technique,the SLS developments of typical polymers,and the essential process parameters in SLS.Furthermore,the applications of SLS are focused,and the conclusions and perspectives are discussed.

Prediction of Sintering Strength for Selective Laser Sintering of Polystyrene Using Artificial Neural Network

In the present work,a study is made to investigate the effects of process parameters,namely,laser power,scanning speed,hatch spacing, layer thickness and powder temperature, on the tensile strength for selective laser sintering( SLS) of polystyrene( PS). Artificial neural network( ANN) methodology is employed to develop mathematical relationships between the process parameters and the output variable of the sintering strength. Experimental data are used to train and test the network. The present neural network model is applied to predicting the experimental outcome as a function of input parameters within a specified range. Predicted sintering strength using the trained back propagation( BP) network model showed quite a good agreement with measured ones. The results showed that the networks had high processing speed,the abilities of error-correcting and self-organizing. ANN models had favorable performance and proved to be an applicable tool for predicting sintering strength SLS of PS.

IGNITING SHS BY LASER AND ITS APPLICATION TO SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING OF METALLIC POWDER MATERIAL

How to directly fabricate metallic functional parts with selective laser sintering (SLS) process is a potential technique that scientists are researching. Existent problems during directly fabricating metal part by use of SLS are analyzed. For the sake of solving the problems, a new idea of adding self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) material into metallic powder material to form new type of SLS metallic powder material is put forward. This powder material can release controllable amount of heat during its interaction with the laser beam energy to reduce the requirement to laser power during directly sintering metallic part, to prolong the time of metallic liquid phase existing, and to improve the intensity and accuracy of SLS part. For this reason, SHS material′s interaction with the CO2 laser beam energy is researched, which proves that CO2 laser beam energy may instantly ignite SHS reaction. On the basis of the above-mentioned researches, the effect of sintering the metal powder material mixing SHS material with CO2 laser is also researched, which shows: there is an optimal blending ratio of various material in the new metallic powder material. Under the optimal blending ratio and SLS process parameters, this new metallic powder material can indeed release amount of heat and SHS reaction may be controlled within the laser sintering. This research result makes it possible that the metallic part is directly sintered with small CO2 laser (less than 50W), which may greatly reduce the volume, cost and running expenditure of SLS machine, be propitious to application.

A method to fabricate small features on scaffolds for tissue engineering via selective laser sintering

Purpose: Selective laser sintering (SLS) is a rapid pro- totyping technique applied to produce tissue-engineer- ing scaffolds from powder materials. The standard scanning technique, however, often produces struts of extensive thickness, which means fabrication of high- ly porous scaffolds with small overall dimensions is quite difficult. Nevertheless, this study aims to overcome this shortfall. Design/methodology/approach: To this end, three scanning methods were evaluated in terms of minimum feature size and freedom of design, using a test polyamide (PA) material. Polycaprolactone (PCL) was then employed to create highly porous 3D scaffolds using the preferred scanning me- thod to produce thin struts. Findings: While in normal scanning mode some features were well above the laser spot diameter, strut thicknesses below the laser spot diameter were achieved when using the “outline scan” function for PA material. Those achieved for PCL were slightly higher and in the 500-800 ?m range, with an average pore size of 400 μm. Investigations on the properties of the scaffolds revealed an effective compression modulus of the PCL scaffold of 6.5 MPa. Furthermore, there was no change in physical or che- mical properties when the scaffolds were stored in a physiological environment for 7 weeks. Originality/ value: Though SLS is considered as a fabrication te- chnique for tissue engineering scaffolds, actually pro- duced scaffolds did not comply with porosity requirements and limitations of the SLS process in produ- cing features at the size of the laser beam spot have not been discussed. The present paper shows the capabilities of the SLS process based on two materials and presents a method to minimize feature size in scaffolds.

STUDY ON SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING OF METALLIC POWDERS

A series of experiments are carried out with selective laser sintering(SLS) for copper,copper-nickel powder matetials.The phenomena of the sintering process is ana-lyzed,the influence of techmological parameters is dis-cussed in detail,By means of SEM with energy spectrum system and X-ray diffraction spectrum,the morphology of the microstructure and the compositions of the different zones are analyzed,the mechanism of the laser sintering metallic powders is preliminarily explored,All those above lay the foundations for the forming metal parts by laser sintering metallic powders.

Selective laser sintering mechanism of polymer-coated molybdenum powder

A type of polymer-coated molybdenum powder used in selective laser sintering technology was prepared by coating polymer on molybdenum particles and frozen grinding techniques, with the maximum particle diameter of 71 μm. The laser sintering experiments of polymer-coated molybdenum powder were conducted by using the self-developed selective laser sintering machine (HLRP-350I). The method of microscopic analysis was used to investigate the dynamic laser sintering process of polymer-coated molybdenum powder. Based on the study, the laser sintering mechanisms of polymer-coated molybdenum powder were presented. It is found that the mechanism is viscous flow when the laser sintering temperature is between 100 ℃ and 160 ℃, which can be described by a two-sphere model; and the mechanism is melting /solidification when the temperature is above 160 ℃.

Microstructure and property of sub-micro WC-10 %Co particulate reinforced Cu matrix composites prepared by selective laser sintering

The WC-10%Co particulate reinforced Cu matrix composite material with a WC-Co∶Cu mass ratio of 20∶80 was successfully fabricated by selective laser sintering(SLS) process. The following optimal processing parameters were used: laser power of 700 W, scan speed of 0.06 m/s, scan line spacing of 0.15 mm, and powder layer thickness of 0.3 mm. The microstructure, composition, and phase of the laser processed material were investigated by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), X-ray diffraction(XRD), and energy dispersive X-ray(EDX) spectroscopy. The results show that the bonding mechanism of this process is liquid phase sintering. The Cu and Co act as the binder phase, while the WC acts as the reinforcing phase. The non-equilibrium effects induced by laser melting, such as high degrees of undercooling and high solidification rate, result in the formation of a metastable phase CoC0.25. The WC reinforcing particulates typically have three kinds of morphology. They are agglomerated and undissolved, incompletely separated and partially dissolved, separated and dissolved, which indicates that particle rearrangement acts as the dominant sintering mechanism for the larger WC, while dissolution-precipitation prevails for the smaller WC particles. Microhardness tester was used to determine the Vickers hardness across the cross-section of the laser sintered sample, with the average value being HV0.1268.5. However, the hardness varied considerably, which might be attributed to the WC segregation and the high solidification rate experienced by the molten pool.

Numerical simulation of temperature field during selective laser sintering of polymer-coated molybdenum powder

The technology of length-alterable line-scanning laser sintering was introduced. Based on the research of laser heating property, powder thermal physics parameters and laser sintering process, a numerical model of the temperature field during length-alterable line-scanning and laser sintering of polymer-coated molybdenum powder was presented. Finite element method (FEM) was used to simulate the temperature field during laser sintering process. In order to verify the simulated results, a measuring system was developed to study the laser sintering temperature field. Infrared meter was introduced to measure the surface temperature of sintering powder; the temperature of its inside part was measured by thermocouple. The measured results were compared with the numerical simulation results; the conformity between them is good and the relative error is less than 5%.

Selective laser sintering of polymer-coated Al_2O_3/ZrO_2/TiC ceramic powder

A type of polymer-coated Al2O3/ZrO2/TiC ceramic powder was prepared. The laser sintering mechanism of polymer-coated Al2O3/ZrO2/TiC powder was investigated by studying the dynamic laser sintering process. It is found that the mechanism is viscous flow when the sintering temperature is between 80 ℃ and 120 ℃, and it is melting/solidification when the temperature is above 120 ℃. The process parameters of selective laser sintering were optimized by using ortho-design method. The results show that the optimal parameters include laser power of 14 W, scanning velocity of 1 400 mm/s, preheating temperature of 50 ℃ and powder depth of 0.15 mm. A two-step post-treatment process is adopted to improve the mechanical properties of laser sintered part, which includes polymer debinding and high temperature sintering. After vacuum sintering for 2 h at 1 650 ℃, the bending strength and fracture toughness of Al2O3/ZrO2/TiC ceramic part reach 358 MPa and 6.9 MPa·m1/2, respectively.

Coating processes towards selective laser sintering of energetic material composites

This research aims to contribute to the safe methodology for additive manufacturing(AM)of energetic materials.Coating formulation processes were investigated and evaluated to find a suitable method that may enable selective laser sintering(SLS)as the safe method for fabrication of high explosive(HE)compositions.For safety and co nvenie nce reasons,the co ncept demonstration was conducted using inert explosive simulants with properties quasi-similar to the real HE.Coating processes for simulant RDXbased microparticles by means of PCL and 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde(as TNT simulant)are reported.These processes were evaluated for uniformity of coating the HE inert simulant particles with binder materials to facilitate the SLS as the adequate binding and fabrication method.Suspension system and single emulsion methods gave required particle near spherical morphology,size and uniform coating.The suspension process appears to be suitable for the SLS of HE mocks and potential formulation methods for active HE composites.The density is estimated to be comparable with the current HE compositions and plastic bonded explosives(PBXs)such as C4 and PE4,produced from traditional methods.The formulation method developed and understanding of the science behind the processes paves the way toward safe SLS of the active HE compositions and may open avenues for further research and development of munitions of the future.

Direct Slicing Based on Material Performance and Process Parameters for Selective Laser Sintering

Direct slicing from GAD models to generate sectional contours of the part to be sintered for Selective Laser Sintering （SLS） may overcome inherent disadvantages of using a Stereo Lithography （STL） format. In this paper, a direct slicing procedure is proposed for Selective Laser Sintering based on material performance and process parameters. Slicing thickness depends on the 3 D geometric model, material performance and process parameters. The relationship among material performance, process parameters and the largest slicing thickness is established using analysis of a sintering temperature field. A dynamic linked library is developed to realize direct slicing from a CAD model.