Industrial Freeform Generation of Microtools by Laser Micro Sintering

Precision tools with structural resolution reaching the 20 micrometer range can be generated on an industrial scale by “laser micro sintering”. Components featuring aspect ratios above 12 and a roughness Ra down to 1.5 micrometers have already been produced from sub micrometer grained metal powders. The components can be generated either firmly attached to a substrate or fixed in an easily separable mode. If supporting structures are employed, undercuts up to 90° are feasible, without, a process parameter dependent maximum angles of undercut below 90° are obtained. The process has been introduced into the market, labeled microSINTERING by 3D-Micromac AG.