Technology Research on Metal Powder Select Laser Sintering Based on Near Infrared Laser Diode

Near infrared laser diode (LD) energy source technology was researched because some defects were existed in the existing select laser sintering (SLS) system using gas lasers. The LD beam characteristics, the collimating and expanding technologies were analyzed and calculated. And then, the scanning mode was researched based on filling area on the LD energy source. The laser firstly scans inside and outside contour and then scans filling area. Smaller laser focal spot is used in scanning contour and bigger laser focal spot is used in scanning filling area. In order to get the same sintering depth, the power of LD needs to convert between scanning contour and scanning filling area. Experimental results show that the product precision is improved by using the scanning mode and near infrared LD in the same prototyping efficiency.