Thermal management is a critical issue for Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) of polymers, as
the thermal history within the powder bed has a significant impact on the produced part
quality. Numerical simulations can calculate the thermal history of a build, as well as
residual stress, distortion, lack of fusion, and powder aging effects. Model parameters
including heat input from the laser and IR heaters, and the thermal boundary conditions on
the model surfaces, are needed to perform a physics based SLS part-scale simulation. In …