Selective Laser Sintering

What Does Selective Laser Sintering Mean?

Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an additive manufacturing process that is used to build three-dimensional solid prototypes and components, usually of a small scale. It is a rapid prototyping technique that use laser to sinter powder-based materials into solid products and models. It was first conceived by Dr. Carl Deckard at the University of Texas.

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Techopedia Explains Selective Laser Sintering

SLS use a a high-powered laser beam such as a carbon dioxide laser to join together raw materials and create the desired product/model. The material can be plastic, metal, glass or ceramic in a powdered form. The whole process of SLS is additive in nature. The laser beam takes cross section geometrical coordinates detail from a CAD drawing and adds the powder surface accordingly. When the layer is finished, the surface is powdered again and the process is repeated until the model is complete.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…