Today research and development in the area of Rapid Prototyping is focused on the fabrication of fully functional parts directly from metals and ceramics. Therefore it is necessary to expand the range of usable raw materials. This is not even simple, regarding the demands on these materials concerning the required mechanical properties and the workability on the desired Rapid Prototyping system. Especially in view of the application of RP in tool making this demand for the material being close or identical to that of the part used in production becomes even stronger. The article gives a short overview about the lasersintering of metal powders. Recent advances associated with lasersintering of metal powders and postprocessing are presented.
