- Project Title : A Feasibility Study on Infrared Sintering of Polymers.
Duration : 10 Months (June 2004 –April 2005)
Project Team : L. Jyothish Kumar, Professor David Ian Wimpenny, Soumya Banerjee – Additive Manufacturing Technology Group (Formerly RPMG), De Montfort University, UK.
Funding Agency : European Union Funding, UK.
Description: The aim of the project was to study the feasibility of building single and multiple layers using different polymer powders with the use of infrared heating and also compare the strength of different polymer powders used in additive manufacturing process.
The selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process is used to produce 3D parts from CAD data in variety of materials including polymers, metals and ceramics. SLS of polymer parts has been shown to be a viable manufacturing route in some instances where production volumes are low and parts are small, for larger parts and volumes the process is slow and costly to compete with existing processes such as injection moulding or machining. This research addressed the issue of Rapid Manufacturing of parts with less time by using infrared heating.