DEVELOPMENT OF MANUFACTURING SOFTWARE FOR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING MACHINE

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques, one of the non-conventional manufacturing methods, first emerged in the late 1980s. At the beginning, it was used to make prototype from polymers as a tool for communication and inspection. Later in 1990s, advancements in the rapid prototyping systems paved the way for manufacture of end-use direct functional parts from metal and ceramic. Nowadays, selective laser sintering/melting (SLS/SLM) machines makes it possible for some parts which could not be manufactured through conventional methods due to their geometrical complexity, to be manufactured rapidly by using various metal powders in many areas. In this study, a software that will be able to be used in SLS/SLM bench and in other additive manufacturing system, has been developed. The software has been adapted to a Direct Selective Laser Sintering bench manufactured for research-development (R&D) purposes. The software consists of two modules. In the first module, the solid model in stereolithography (STL) file format was visualized as three dimensional (3D), its hole control and fix was made and it was sliced. In the second module, two dimensional (2D) slice of the model which was sliced in the first module was shown, it was replaced on a process table, scan path was created with different scan pattern, the total distance on that scan path was calculated, burning process was started according to scan pattern selected and laser parameters, bench servo motors movements were carried out. The software developed shall contribute to set up a substructure for manufacturing studies for AM machines and R&D activities to be held in SLS/SLM field.

Keywords

• Additive manufacturing,, selective laser sintering (SLS),selective laser melting (SLM),STL file repair,slicing,scan path

SEÇMELİ LAZER SİNTERLEME TEZGÂHI İÇİN İMALAT YAZILIMI GELİŞTİRİLMESİ

Abstract

Alışılmamış imalat yöntemlerinden biri olan eklemeli imalat teknikleri, 80’li yılların sonlarına doğru gelişmeye başlamıştır. Başlangıçta polimerlerden iletişim ve muayene araç gereçleri olarak prototip yapmak için kullanılmıştır. Daha sonra 90’lı yıllarda hızlı prototipleme sistemlerindeki gelişmelerle metal ve seramikten son kullanım direkt fonksiyonel parçalar üretilmeye başlanmıştır. Günümüzde de seçmeli lazer sinterleme/ergitme (SLS/SLE) makineleri ile birçok alanda çeşitli metal tozları kullanılarak klasik imalat yöntemleri ile imal edilemeyecek kadar karmaşık geometride olan parçaların çok hızlı bir şekilde imalatı yapılabilmektedir. Bu çalışmada, SLS/SLE tezgâhında ve diğer eklemeli imalat sistemlerinde kullanılabilecek bir yazılım geliştirilmiştir. Geliştirilen yazılım, araştırma-geliştirme (AR-GE) amaçlı üretilmiş olan bir Doğrudan Seçmeli Lazer Sinterleme tezgâhına uyarlanmıştır. Yazılım iki modülden oluşmaktadır. Birinci modül ile, STL (STeryoLitografi) dosya formatındaki katı modelin üç boyutlu (3B) görüntülenmesi, üçgen yüzey örgüsü boşluk kontrolü-tamiri ve modelin dilimlenmesi gerçekleştirilmiştir. İkinci modül ile de, birinci modülde dilimlenmiş modelin iki boyutlu (2B) dilimlerinin gösterimi, tabla üzerinde yerleşimi, farklı tarama desenlerinde tarama yollarının oluşturulması, bu tarama yollarındaki toplam lazer mesafesinin hesaplanması, seçilen tarama desenine ve lazer parametrelerine göre yakma işleminin yapılması, tezgah servo motorları hareketlerinin sağlanması gerçekleştirilmiştir. Geliştirilen yazılım Eİ makineleri üretimi çalışmalarına ve SLS/SLE alanında yapılacak ARGE faaliyetleri için altyapı oluşturmaya katkı sağlayacaktır.

Keywords

• Eklemeli imalat,seçmeli lazer sinterleme (SLS),seçmeli lazer ergitme (SLE),STL dosya onarım,dilimleme,tarama yolu

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