Simulation of the Surface Topography on Laser Sintered Polymer Parts

One barrier of laser sintering (LS) to become the main process for Direct Manufacturing (DM) is the surface quality of LS parts. Hence, the property which has to be improved is the rough surfaces of LS parts due to the layered structure. Another additional effect is the incomplete melting of powder particles on the surface due to the high process temperature. In this paper we demonstrate our approach of a theoretical model for the topography of LS part surfaces. We investigated the surface roughness as a function of surface orientation. Considering that the model involves further variables as layer thickness, particle density and particle size distribution to describe the topography precisely. Experimental results were used to optimize and check the results of the model.