Increasing the productivity of selective laser sintering workflow by integrating cooling channels in the printing powder matrix

The long cooling time of the powder matrix in selective laser sintering (SLS) hinders the maximum system productivity exploitation within daily production cycles. The present research aims at reducing the cooling time of SLS without compromising on quality, by investigating the feasibility of integrating in-printed cooling channels within the powder matrix. A cooling solution is realized using printed channels, and corresponding thermal simulations are developed to predict cooling rates for different channel configurations. Experimental and simulation results show that a 45% cooling time reduction could be achieved while maintaining the same geometrical characteristics in terms of dimensions and form error.