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Selective Laser Sintering Technology

Discover the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) 3D printing technology and how you can use it to produce your objects from 1 - 10k parts

What is SLS 3D printing technology?

SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) is an additive manufacturing method. It creates parts additively by sintering fine polymer powder particles, to fuse them together locally. Your plastic part will be created layer by layer, according to your 3D model.

During the 3D printing process, the SLS machine preheats the bulk powder material in the powder bed somewhat below its melting point, to make it easier for the laser to raise the temperature of the selected regions the rest of the way to the melting point. A roller will apply a layer of polymer powder, then the laser will sinter the powder according to the 3D file and the build platform will lower before applying a new layer of powder. The process will be repeated until the desired part is created.

Compared to other additive manufacturing processes such as stereolithography (SLA) and Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) or Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) does not require support structures since the powder acts as self supporting material. This allows intricate and complex geometries to be constructed.

Why choose SLS 3D printing technology?

Whether you’re producing single objects, small batches, or mass-producing, Selective Laser Sintering 3D printing is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to 3D print high quality objects.

Support free

With powder-based 3D printing your designs can take any geometry without the limitations of supports

1 – 10k parts

SLS allows for producing multiple parts in one print job. It is the most efficient way to mass-produce

Design freedom

Design-driven manufacturing allows you to produce complex geometries at any scale of production

On-demand SLS 3D Printing Service

Sculpteo provides you the best online 3D Printing Services for your plastic parts. Thanks to our expertise in SLS technology, you can choose between several polymers and finishes, instantly receive a quote, and let us handle the manufacturing in our ISO 9001 certified factory.

Start using SLS today by uploading a 3D file.

A little bit of history

SLS 3D printing has been one of the first additive manufacturing processes. It was developed in the 80s by Dr. Carl Deckard and Dr. Joe Beaman at the University of Texas at Austin. The manufacturing methods they created have since been adapted to work with a range of 3D printing materials, including plastics, metals, glass, ceramics, and various composite material powders, to become the powder bed fusion technologies we know now.

What is Selective Laser Sintering used for?

If you want to improve your product development process, Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) can totally help you. It has many advantages for designers and engineers. It could be a great opportunity to try out efficient designs and manufacturing processes for your projects.

When 3D printing with the Selective Laser Sintering process, you can use different materials such as Nylon PA12, TPU, PA 11, PA6, etc. You will have to choose the material properties that will fit your project. The applications for this 3D printing process are consumer products, architectural models, drones, robotics, special machinery, jewelry & watches, ioT devices, sport equipments, footwear, orthopedic technology, education, medical devices, electronics housing, medical devices, sculptures, jigs and fixtures, promotional items, and more. All parts you will need from functional prototyping to production can be manufactured using this additive manufacturing technology.

Thanks to this additive manufacturing technique, you will be able to create concept models, parts for functional tests. You will even be able to add surface finishes on your parts to get great final products. It is possible to prototype complex designs with this additive manufacturing technology. You can do as many iterations as you want to improve your product design, you just have to modify your 3D file.

This 3D printing technology is great to do some rapid prototyping, but also for production. Rapid manufacturing is one of the most interesting advantages of the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process. Traditional manufacturing techniques such as injection molding can’t compete with the short lead time that these SLS machines can provide. Moreover, at Sculpteo, we are offering a lot of 3D printing materials and finishings to get good finished products.