A Study on Generation of Laser Scanning Path and Scanning Control

레이저 주사 경로 생성 및 주사 제어에 관한 연구

Selective Laser Sintering(SLS) method is one of Rapid Prototyping(RP) technologies. It is used to fabricate desirable part to sinter powder and stack the fabricated layer. To develop this SLS machine, it needs effective scanning path and the development of scanning device. This paper shows how to make fast scanning path with respect to scan spacing, laser beam size and scanning direction from 2-dimensional sliced file generated in commercial CAD/CAM software. Also, we develop the scanning device and its control algorithm to precisely follow the generated scanning path. Scanning path affects precision and total machining time of the final fabricated part. Sintering occurs using infrared laser which has high thermal energy. As a result, shrinkage and curling of the fabricated part occurs according to thermal distribution. Therefore, fast scanning path generation is needed to eliminate the factors of quality deterioration. It highly affects machining efficiency and prevents shrinkage and curling by relatively lessening the thermal distribution of the surface of sintering layer. To generate this fast scanning path, adaptive path generation is needed with respect to the shape of each layer, and not simply x, y scanning, but the scanning of arbitrary direction must be enabled. This paper addresses path generation method to focus on fast scanning, and development of scanning system and control algorithm to precisely follow generated path.