View a timeline showing the history of selective laser sintering (SLS) at UT Austin. (Timeline opens in new window)
In August, professors, students and companies from across the country convenved at the 24th Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium-an Additive Manufacturing Conference, held at The University of Texas at Austin — which is home to an additive manufacturing technique, selective laser sintering.
Hosted by the Department of Mechanical Engineering’s Laboratory for Freeform Fabrication, the annual SFF Symposium is the leading academic symposium on additive manufacturing in the nation. Sometimes called 3-D manufacturing, additive manufacturing encompasses various techniques that use computer models to form solid objects.
During this year’s symposium, which occurred Aug. 12-14, attendees, which included 88 authors and 74 students from universities and companies around the United States, discussed the industry’s advancements and challenges.
Engineering faculty members at UT Austin created the symposium, as university research helped pioneer the field of additive manufacturing with the development of the high-end process known as selective laser sintering (SLS).
In the 1980s, Carl Deckard, then a mechanical engineering student at the Cockrell School of Engineering, invented SLS under the guidance of professor Joe Beaman. Deckard came up with the idea to use a laser to melt powders together to make a 3-D object. With Beaman’s help, Deckard built the first SLS machine, nicknamed Betsy, in the mechanical engineering department.
Over the years, Beaman and Deckard’s work with SLS evolved, serving as the basis for the industry. Today, Beaman and other UT Austin faculty and students continue to push the boundaries of what SLS can do in terms of high-end manufacturing, and the results are astonishing — from engine parts to prosthetics.
View the timeline above for a brief history of SLS at UT Austin, as well as how enterprising students and faculty are using the technique today.
