Direct Selective Laser Sintering of high performance metals for containerless HIP

A new net shape manufacturing method known as Selective Laser Sintering/Hot Isostatic Pressing (SLS/HIP) that combines the strengths of direct selective laser sintering and hot isostatic pressing is presented. Direct selective laser sintering is a rapid manufacturing technique that can produce high density metal parts of complex geometry with an integral, gas impermeable skin. These parts can then be directly post-processed by containerless HIP. The advantages of in-situ encapsulation include elimination of a secondary container material and associated container-powder interaction, reduced preprocessing time, a short HIP cycle and reduction in post-processing steps compared to HIP of canned parts. Results of research conducted on Inconel(R) 625 and Ti-6Al-4V alloys are presented. This research is funded by DARPA/ONR contract N00014-95-C-0139 titled "Low Cost Metal Processing Using SLS/HIP".