Fractal scanning path generation and control system for selective laser sintering (SLS)

A fractal scanning path which is a FASS (space-filling, self-avoiding, simple and self-similar) curve is proposed for selective laser sintering (SLS). The-authors' preliminary research has proved that the samples which are produced by SLS along a fractal scanning path possess improved physical performance. However, the complete FASS fractal curves can only fill a square region, thus a method is developed to realize trimming of the fractal curves suitable for arbitrary boundaries by means of judging intersection points between arbitrary boundaries and the fractal curves as well as to keep the FASS feature. Moreover, a two-lever special control system is built to realize the real-time sintering of samples aiming at the fractal scanning, and the interrupt technology is used for the main-Accessory system synchronization. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.