Entwicklung eines metallischen Pulversystems für die Anwendung im Lasersinter-Verfahren

Rapid construction of metal parts and prototype tool direct from CAD drawings has long been the main objective of the Rapid Prototyping (RP) industry. Laser Sintering is one of the few RP processes which possesses the capability of producing parts directly from metals. Tody it is mainly used for the production of prototype moulds and old inserts for polymer injection moulding, whereas their fast and economic fabrication and suitability for the production of technical prototypes is of vital importance. Thes technical prototypes cold be used for fit and function tests in a very early stage of the development process, thus resulting in product cost reduction and in profit due to the earlier introduction of a new product to marktet. Current laser sintered metal parts still suffer from shrinkage, porosity problems and thus poor mechanical properties. These problems have to be solved in a satisfactory manner when applying the Laser Sintering technology to the fabrication of prototype tools. As the past has proved, these problems can't be solved by just focusing on the Laser Sintering process itself. It is rather necessary to set-up closed process chains based on the Laser Sintering technology, including the development and pre-processing of improved raw materials and the linkage of following-up technologies. The Fraunhofer-Institute for Applied Materials Research (IFAM) works on the development of new metal powder systems suitable to be processed by laser sintering and the application of secondary operations to adjust laser sintered components on the requirements of prototype tools in terms of strength, hardness, dimensional accuracy, surface quality and service life as well.