INFORMATIONAL STATISTICAL THERMODYNAMICS AND THERMAL LASER STEREOLITHOGRAPHY

We consider the nonequilibrium thermodynamic aspects of the techno-ind ustrial process of thermal laser stereolithography. The conditions nec essary for a satisfactory process of rapid prototyping to follow are c haracterized and discussed. We show that the process is best described in terms of modern theories of nonequilibrium thermodynamics of dissi pative systems. Nonconservative fluxes need to be introduced as basic variables, quite in the spirit of extended irreversible thermodynamics , to explain the experimental results. We also show that by varying th e thermal properties of the material, the restricted domain of validit y of the traditional classical irreversible thermodynamics is reached: to have diffusive motion predominating over long-range-propagating un dulatory motion is fundamental for the technique.