Direct laser sintering of a copper-based alloy for creating three-dimensional metal parts

Direct laser sintering of metal, as one of the important developments in rapid prototyping technologies, is discussed in this paper. A special copper-based alloy is used for this rapid prototyping process. Experiments on the sintering conditions of this material had been conducted in a self-developed high temperature metal sintering machine. The mechanism of laser sintering for this kind of material was disclosed by SEM analysis of microstructures of sintered parts. The density, surface roughness and mechanical properties of the laser sintering parts due to variation of process parameters were measured and analysed. The effect of process parameters to the accuracy of sintered parts was also investigated. Thus, optimum parameters were obtained for direct laser sintering of three-dimensional metal parts. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.