Abstract: Selective laser sintering (SLS) rapid prototyping (RP) technology is a kind of advanced manufacturing technology that has been developed these ten years. To adopt this technology can remarkably shorten the period that products are launched into the market, lower the cost of the products, improve the quality of the products, enhance the competition capability of the enterprises. However, the scanning mode is a key technology in the SLS fabrication process. On the basis of analysis of the existing scanning mode and its influence on the precision, intension , and the fabrication efficiency of the sintering parts, some disadvantages of the existing scanning mode are pointed out. To overcome the disadvantages, a new kind of subarea and direction change scanning mode, which divides the scanning lines into group to keep away from the inner holes and grooves , is presented and carried out. This new kind of scanning mode and its arithmetic have successfully been applied to HRPS series SLS systems developed by Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Practical application shows that this new kind of scanning mode can greatly improve the fabrication efficiency and minish the curl distortion of the sintering parts.

Key words: Fabrication efficiency, Scanning mode, Selective laser sintering(SLS), Subarea and direction change