The Development Status of Selective Laser Melting Technology (SLM)

With the development of manufacturing technology, traditional manufacturing methods can no longer meet the needs of modern society. Additive manufacturing technology (AM) is a new type, which bases on the principle of layered manufacturing and uses the method of accumulating materials layer by layer to directly manufacture digital models into solid parts. In recent years, AM has been greatly developed and applied. Selective Laser Melting technology (SLM) is a very widely used technology in AM. SLM uses a high-energy laser beam to scan the metal powder on a predetermined path. It first melts the metal powder completely, then after cooling, the melted metal powder solidfies into a part. This article first describes the characteristics and equipment development of SLM technology, then summarizes the application of SLM technology, finally discusses the shortcomings of SLM technology.