T.A.J. Reddy, Y.R. Kumar, and C.S.P. Rao (India)
Rapid prototyping, Selective Laser Sintering, Taguchi technique, ANOVA method and Optimization
As part of a manufacturing system, rapid prototyping (RP) should be integrated with other manufacturing technologies. To ensure that this integration is successful, it is necessary to understand the properties of RP components. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is a process for developing rapid prototype objects by selectively fusing layers of powder according to numerically defined cross sectional geometry. The parts produced by SLS have lower quality than the parts produced by conventional techniques. The quality of the parts is affected by various process parameters used in SLS process. Three parameters, namely, laser power, scan spacing and part orientation were identified as important among them. In the present work an attempt has been made to study the affect of these parameters on the quality of the parts. Taguchi method of experimental design is used to plan the experiments. The experiments were conducted on a DTM Sinter station 2500plus SLS rapid prototyping machine. The experimental results are summarized by using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) method where significant main factors and their interactions are identified. This paper discusses the results of the study and presents the conclusions arrived from it.
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