Modelling Simple Feature Creation in Selective Laser Sintering

A two dimensional finite difference thermal sintering model has been created to describe the Selective Laser Sintering process(SLS). It includes thermal property variation with position and temperature, and especially adaptive meshing to refine information in regions of high temperature gradients. It has been used to predict density and temperature in both single and multi layer sintering operations, corresponding to experimental results. This paper will present comparisons of theory and experiment for the SLS of simple geometries such as blocks, steps, and cylinders.