THE LASER FORMING OF METALLIC COMPONENTS USING PARTICULATE MATERIALS

Direct fabrication technology, which utilizes computer-aided design so lid models to automatically control the manufacture of functional piec e parts, is rapidly gaining popularity as a means to significantly red uce the time to market of new concepts. Since the introduction of ster eolithography in 1982, several different vapid prototyping technologie s have evolved using surrogate rather than actual materials of constru ction. Most recently, researchers have begun to develop laser-based me thods to obtain fully dense metallic components directly from a comput er-aided design solid model. Each of these methods is unique, but poss esses aspects that ave similar to the others. Many of these methods ho ld a great deal of promise for applications; however, none have been d eveloped into a commercial product.