Direct laser sintering of a silica sand

As an application study of rapid prototyping, commercially available silica sand was successfully direct-laser-sintered in a self-developed high-temperature laser sintering equipment. The mechanism of powder-state sand becoming a solid state block during the laser sintering process was disclosed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis on sand particles and sintered samples. The effect of process parameters to the accuracy, strength and surface finish of sintered parts was investigated and thus a set of optimal parameters has been obtained for the sand sintering process. The feasibility of using this material and process to build casting moulds for metal casting was also investigated and discussed.