Laser sintering is not only an effective tool for rapid prototyping, but is increasingly becoming the choice of manufacturing processes in the industry that face a large number of different complex products.
Electronic manufacturing means fast, flexible and cost-effective production directly from 3D CAD data.
Many industries are facing the problem of a shortened production cycle and a continuous increase in the development cycle. In addition, customers began to demand that products must be made according to their requirements. This has led many companies to be prepared to develop a product when it asks for it. To avoid this disadvantage, many companies have added a significant amount of product parameters to their business. This has led to an increase in the complexity of product development, production and sales in the absence of market opportunities. In this way, the profit time of each commodity put on the market becomes shorter.
One possible solution is to use new methods for product development, production and sales. The common feature of these means is that they rely heavily on the customer's participation in the company's added value. The extreme case is the so-called “open technology innovation†where customers work with the company to create his/her own technological innovations. However, "open technological innovation" requires a means of production that can support intuitive product design. Laser sintering is such a technology. It allows direct production from CAD data, which allows for free design because product design is not as limited as traditional processing based on machining.
How does laser sintering work?
Since the early 1990s, laser sintering has been a successful tool for product development. As a technical solution for rapid prototyping concepts, based on 3D CAD data, it can get fully functional prototypes, molds or models in a matter of days, helping to significantly reduce time to market. The improvement of this technology and the increase in related knowledge have expanded its use in many ways. At present, laser sintering is a key technology in electronic manufacturing, which is fast, flexible and cost-effective production directly from CAD files.
Laser sintering is a layered manufacturing technology. The premise of this technology is that the 3D data of the object is available. The three-dimensional description is then converted into a set of slices, each depicting a cross-section of the part that determines the height. The laser sintering machine obtains the desired object by accumulating the slices one by one. At each layer, laser energy is used to melt the powder. By means of the scanning device, the laser energy is "printed" onto the powder layer, which produces a solidified layer which then becomes part of the finished object. The next layer continues to be processed on the first layer until the entire process is completed.
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