University of Rhode Island Gets Laser Prototyping System

KINGSTON, R.I., Aug. 25 -- DTM Corp. has installed a new laser Sinterstation 2500plus system at the University of Rhode Island's Rapid Manufacturing Center (URIRMC). The university plans to use this third-generation rapid prototyping and manufacturing machine primarily for research and development. Brent Stucker, director of the URIRMC, noted, We've remained interested in the selective laser sintering (SLS) process for a number of years. There are other technologies that enable us to do part of what we want to accomplish, but SLS is the backbone of most of our development efforts.
The university plans to devote 70 percent of its Sinterstation time to R&D activities. The remaining time will be used to offer area companies commercial access to the SLS process. Stucker asserts that providing commercial SLS services will benefit the university, the region, and other SLS service bureaus in several ways. Exposure to rapid prototyping, particularly SLS, has been very thin in this area, he says. What we're trying to do here is advance the SLS technology, educate a portion of the market that has not been exposed to it, provide our region with easy access to SLS solutions, and show these companies what the technology can do for them.