Services

SLS®

Selective laser sintering, SLS®, is an additive rapid manufacturing proces that creates 3D prototypes by fusing or sintering powdered thermoplastic materials or metals to form functional prototypes. An advantage to using SLS® is the range of materials that can be used, including nylon, metals, and elastomers. Rapid prototype (RP) laser sintering can provide a competitive edge in your product development by producing plastic or metal SLS® prototypes with complex shapes that closely resemble injection-molded parts.

Leading manufacturers – BMW, Boeing, NASA, Reebok – and service bureaus throughout the world count on SLS® systems to quickly produce three-dimensional prototypes, parts, molds, tools, and casting patterns.

Key benefits of SLS® Rapid Prototyping:
  • Create robust parts and physical prototypes fast – by skipping the tooling step.
  • Create durable, metal, plastic, or rubber-like parts directly from any solid CAD model in as little as one day – and without dependence on costly tooling or skilled labor.
  • Save Time- Fast build speeds. First to market advantage. With the SLS® system your product development team can create better products in less time. Create complex tooling inserts that are ready to use in days, not weeks. Test parts for form, fit, and function off working prototypes – and identify errors early in the design process, prior to manufacturing.
  • Rapidly manufacture fully dense end-use metal parts with excellent surface finish, feature detail and tolerances.

Dinsmore and Associates has used the SLS® process to create low volume manufacturing of metal parts, such as custom medical implants, lightweight aerospace parts, motorsports components, injection mold inserts with conformal cooling channels, and dental caps, crowns, and bridges.

SLS prototyping uses a high power laser to fuse small particles of plastic, metal, ceramic, or glass powders into a mass representing a desired 3-dimensional object. The laser selectively fuses powdered material by scanning cross-sections generated from a 3-D digital description of the part (for example from a CAD file or scan data) on the surface of a powder bed. After each cross-section is scanned, the powder bed is lowered by one layer thickness, a new layer of material is applied on top, and the process is repeated until the part is completed.

The SLS can produce parts from a relatively wide range of commercially available powder materials, including polymers (nylon, also glass-filled or with other fillers, and polystyrene), metals (steel, titanium, alloy mixtures, and composites) and green sand. The physical process can be full melting, partial melting, or liquid-phase sintering. And, depending on the material, up to 100% density can be achieved with material properties comparable to those from conventional manufacturing methods. In many cases large numbers of parts can be packed within the powder bed, allowing very high productivity.

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