surFACe emItting Laser array for addITive mAnufacTuring Of theRmoplastics (FACILITATOR)

增材制造（AM）是一种使能技术，是数字化、本地化、低周转时间和个性化世界中制造业的未来。这个新领域有可能彻底改变人类生活的许多方面。使用这种工艺可以制造的材料可以显著减少制造过程中的浪费，并减少运输部件的重量（减少航空航天等关键部门的碳排放）。这些系统还可以生产用于医疗应用的定制部件，从而提高生活质量。作为工业4.0的一部分，直接数字化制造将成为未来的规范，及时提供定制零件，同时减少对环境的影响。选择性激光烧结（SLS）是一种领先的增材制造工艺。目前的SLM系统在床上反复沉积一层材料粉末，然后用高功率激光扫描表面，只熔化需要在下一层沉积材料的区域，类似于用笔写字。这是一层一层地重复，建立一个完整的3D结构。SLM系统是昂贵的，以这种方式制造的零件的成本中有60%是与时间有关的，这阻碍了这些系统的部署。我们已经开发出一种方法来大规模提高这些系统的写入速度（将速度提高10倍），从而将制造零件的成本降低4倍。我们提出了一种基于半导体激光技术的快速3D打印技术。这项工作的新颖之处在于新激光系统的开发，该系统将允许以10倍的速度写入整个层，这相当于将零件生产成本降低4倍。这对增材制造的作用就像印刷机对出版业的作用一样。

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an enabling technology and is the future of manufacturing in a digital, local, low turnaround time, personalised world.This new field has the potential to revolutionise many aspects of human life. The materials which can be manufactured using this process can significantly reduce waste during the manufacturing process, as well as reduce the weight of parts shipped (reducing carbon emission for key sectors such as aerospace). These systems can also produce bespoke parts for medical applications, giving improved quality of life.Direct digital manufacturing, as part of industry 4.0, will become a future norm, providing custom parts in a timely manner with reduced environmental impact.Selective laser sintering (SLS), is a leading AM process. Current SLM systems repeatedly deposit a layer of material powder on a bed, then a high-power laser is scanned over the surface, melting only areas which require material deposition on the layer below, akin to writing with a pen. This is repeated layer by layer, building a complete 3D structure. The SLM systems are expensive, and \>60% of the cost of the parts manufactured in this way are time dependant, holding back the deployment of these systems. We have developed a method to massively increase the write speed of these systems (increasing the speed by 10x), which reduces the cost of parts manufactured by 4x.We propose the development of a rapid 3D printing technology based on semiconductor laser technology. The novelty in this work is the development of new laser systems which will allow an entire layer to be written in with a speed increase of 10x, which equates to a reduction in cost of part production of 4x.This will do for additive manufacturing what the printing press did for publishing.