Densification and Geometrical Assessments of Alumina Parts Produced Through Indirect Selective Laser Sintering of Alumina-Polystyrene Composite Powder

A powder metallurgy (PM) process to fabricate alumina parts through indirect selective laser sintering (SLS ® ) of alumina-polystyrene composite powder particles is presented.The PM process includes powder production through dispersion polymerisation, SLS ® , debinding and solidstate sintering.Dimensional changes, which occur during the debinding and solid-state sintering, are assessed.Warm isostatic pressing (WIP) and both pressureless and pressure infiltration are introduced as extra steps of the PM process chain.The influence of WIP and the infiltration steps on the changes in density, geometry and microstructure during the PM process are investigated.