NEW LASER RAPID PROTOTYPING METHOD

AND ITS APPLICATIONS

YAO Shan¹  ZENG Feng²  YE Changke¹  YE Jianan¹  JIN Junze¹

(1. Research Center of Foundry Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024;
2. Department of Computer Science and Technology, Jiaying University, Meizhou 514015 )

Abstract: To against the demerits of currently main RP technology, a novel method of laser rapid prototyping is presented, which is based on solid boundary surface separating. This method naturally combines the advantages of both. LOM which builds a part by 2D contour scanning and SLS which can process multi-kind of powdery materials. Furthermore, it can overcome some of the limitations of SLS such as low efficiency, low density and hardness, bad precision and surface smoothness, etc. Using the self-developed RP system, optimal processing parameters are obtained by a method that combines the results of temperature measured by the infrared thermal imaging system and laser energy distributed model simulated with ANSYS. The apply investigation is carried on and three dimensions rapidly manufacturing of foundry mold and quick casting of metal part are achieved by this novel method, and a metal bevel gear is successfully produced by pattern-less quick casting.

Key words: Laser rapid prototyping Solid boundary surface separating Rapid casting Laser energy distributed model

CLC No: TH164 TG665

Received 20060713, received in revised form 20070115