Abstract
Tissue engineering is a fast growing field that combines engineering and medical expertise. Providing good scaffolds, as temporary support during new tissue growth, is one of the engineering challenges in this field. The potential of selective laser sintering (SLS) for tissue-engineering scaffolds fabrication using powder-based biomaterials has been investigated and preliminary results have been favorable. Scaffold specimen fabricated by SLS were mostly conducted by empirical method, hence it is beneficial to have a theoretical model for the heat transfer phenomenon. As SLS is using a heat source to bind the powder together, it has a particular challenge that it might only be used by thermally stable biomaterials. This model aims to relate the thermal properties of the biomaterials and the SLS laser beam properties. By understanding the important processing parameters, it can then reduce the empirical trial-and-error sintering trials at SLS to obtain suitable parameters.