Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an important Rapid Prototyping method because its wide range of materials. The powder is fused and processed into a part because it is heated in the process. Preheating of powder on the surface of powder bed is a one important process which is a guarantee by which parts can be successfully fabricated and influences accuracy of parts fabricated in SLS technology. The uniformity of temperature on powder bed influences accuracy and performance of parts. It is necessary to understand the influences of the parameters of preheating set on uniformity of temperature on surface of powder bed. This paper analyzes general preheating process of irradiator for the preheating of powder on the surface of powder bed during SLS processing, and investigates influences of the flux density on the temperature field on the top surface of powder bed. The models of distribution of flux density and the distribution of surface temperature of powder bed are presented. The result predicted according to the models is reasonably consistent with experimental result. This model plays important role in design of preheating set and control of SLS processing. It is concluded that the uniformity of temperature field on the powder bed is determined mostly by the geometry of heating component and its fix location and the flux density is inverse proportional to the highness.
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