Fast prototyping method by laser sintering of powder

A process for the rapid prototyping by sintering in solid phase, with a laser, of a powder or a mixture of powders, comprising the steps of:

• 1/ obtaining a series of digitized superposed sections of an object to be produced, from a three-dimensional representation of said object;
• 2/ spreading the powder or mixture of powders in the form of a thin layer;
• 3/ heating the layer at a temperature near the sintering temperature in solid phase of said powder or said mixture of powders;
• 4/ bringing the heated layer to the solid phase sintering temperature to create grain joints between particles of said powder or said mixture of powders by sweeping with a laser beam said layer such that a selected portion of the powder, which corresponds to one of the digitized sections of the object to be produced, is sintered in solid phase by the supplemental energy supplied by the laser;
• and
• repeating steps 2 to 4 while maintaining said heating until all the digitized superposed sections of the object to be produced are obtained.