Selective laser melting of metallic powder bed

Appearing in the late 1990s, selective laser melting (SLM – ) is a manufacturing technique that adds material layer by layer, known as iterative, and belongs to the family of additive manufacturing processes. It provides innovative solutions for the direct manufacture of mechanical parts using the appropriate material. It is a process designed to manufacture complex, high value-added parts from a CAD (Computer-Aided Design) file in a short time and without tooling.

This technology has applications in several industrial sectors, mainly the dental, medical, polymer injection molding, aerospace, defense, and luxury goods industries. It can be used for rapid prototyping, but above all for the production of small or medium-sized series of parts. In this case, we refer to it as direct manufacturing.

The main advantages of this technology are reduced lead times and tooling, weight reduction, customization, the creation of internal thermal control channels known as "conforming," and a reduction in the number of components in an assembly by producing parts with geometries that cannot be achieved using conventional processes.

This article on laser fusion discusses the value chain, from design to post-processing, necessary to ensure a high level of quality for these different industrial sectors.