SLS

Selective Laser Sintering

What is SLS?
Rapid Prototyping refers to the creation of quick representations of final products
from an initial idea and taking it through successive iterations until the final form is
developed without tooling or molds. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is one of the most
popular Rapid Prototyping mechanisms in which a laser beam selectively fuses or sinters
powder materials, nylon, elastomer etc. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) can provide your
manufacturing business with a leading edge by producing rapid plastic or metal prototypes
that closely match their molded counterparts.

LS technology uses a laser to harden and bond small grains of plastic, ceramic,
glass, metal (we talk in a different article about direct metal sintering), or other materials
into layers in a 3D dimensional structure. The laser traces the pattern of each cross section
of the 3D design onto a bed of powder. After one layer is built, the bed lowers and another
layer is built on top of the existing layers. The bed then continues to lower until every layer
is built and the part is complete.

One of the major benefits of SLS is that it doesn't require the support structures that
many other AM technologies use to prevent the design from collapsing during production.
Since the product lies in a bed of powder, no supports are necessary. This characteristic
alone, while also conserving materials, means that SLS is capable of producing geometries
that no other technology can. In addition, we don't have to worry about damaging the part
while removing supports and we can build complex interior components and complete parts.
As a result, we can save time on assembly. As with other AM technologies, there’s no need
to account for the problem of tool clearance—and thus the need for joints—that subtractive
methods often encounter. So we can make previously impossible geometries, cut down on
assembly time and alleviate weak joints.

SLS really shines when you need plastic parts that will last. SLS is capable of
producing highly durable parts for real-world testing and mold making, while other additive
manufacturing methods may become brittle over time. Because SLS parts are so robust,
they rival those produced in traditional manufacturing methods like injection molding and
are already used in a variety of end-use applications, like automotive and aerospace.

Considering its robustness and capability to produce complex whole parts, SLS can
bring major time and cost benefits for small-run parts that would usually require some
assembly with traditional manufacturing. It’s a perfect marriage of functionality, strength
and complexity. We can produce parts faster and cut down on the time required to put them
together. But we can also produce fewer parts, as SLS parts tend to stand up better to wear
and environmental conditions. Especially for mass customization for certain low-volume
end-use parts, SLS blows traditional manufacturing out of the water because there is no
expensive and inefficient retooling to worry about. One of the other big things with SLS, as
we’ll see with many other additive manufacturing technologies, is it allows us to store and
reproduce parts and molds, using data that will never corrode, get lost in transportation or
require expensive storage. The designs are always available and ready to be produced when
we need them, even if the original is unavailable.

One way we can think about the uses for SLS parts is in terms of the materials it
uses. Styrene-based materials are great for making castings—in plaster, titanium,
aluminum and more—and are compatible with most standard foundry processes. SLS also
can create impact-resistant engineering plastic that’s great for low- to mid-volume end-use
parts, like enclosures, snap-fit parts, automotive moldings and thin-walled ducting.
Engineering plastic can also be made with flame retardant material, to fit aircraft and
consumer product requirements, or gas-filled material for greater stiffness and heat
resistance. There’s even fiber reinforced plastic for ultimate stiffness, and, on the other end
of the spectrum, rubber-like material for flexible parts, like hoses, gaskets, grip padding and
more.

SLA vs SLS
The primary advantage of Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) over Stereolithography is
that it builds prototypes in nylon material. It is possible to make structurally functional parts
such as living hinges, functioning springs, snap fit components with nylon material using
Selective Laser Sintering. The process in itself is very simple and there is no molds or
tooling involved. The nylon material used in SLS can be easily machined, drilled and tapped
unlike those used in SLA, which are brittle as they are built with liquid photopolymers and
cured with UV light. They continue to cure once complete and as a result become more
brittle as time goes on.

Since being patented by Dr. Carl Deckard in 1989, the Selective Laser Sintering
(SLS) technology has become one of the most popularly utilized processes for rapid
prototyping and product development in manufacturing industries. Selective Laser Sintering
has become a very reliable and trusted form of rapid prototyping due to its structural
properties. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is particularly useful when the design is complex,
customized, needs to be functional or requires short run production.

Process

In the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process, 3D parts are created when an
infrared laser beam sinters and fuses powdered materials. The final object is created by
repeatedly fusing thin layers using the laser beam. This process also known as additive
manufacturing producing parts that gradually increase in size until they reach the prescribed
size. These prototypes are created directly from the STL file obtained from 3D CAD models.

The most beneficial characteristic of Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) is how durable
and functional the materials are. These materials include versions of the original DuraForm
and DuraForm glass-filled (GF), which are nylon-based materials that create highly durable
and functional plastic prototypes. Other Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) materials available
are Flex Plastic for elastomeric, rubber-like parts, and LaserForm, which makes metal
prototypes.

Advantages

Research and development has been progressing to bring newer selective laser
sintering (SLS) materials to the market. These materials are such that they require no post
processing steps whatsoever after building and this offers a distinct advantage over
stereolithography (SLA). This however does not mean that these materials cannot be
processed. All of the selective laser sintering (SLS) materials can be finished in multiple
ways. They can be painted, plated, drilled, tapped, or even machined. This allows for a
higher grade of appearance to these parts thus giving users an unlimited potential to use
them.

The SLS process has more advantages than SLA printing. First of all, you don’t have to
worry about supports. If you want to make a large capital letter T with SLA 3D printing
technology, the vertical parts would likely need support. Sometimes this process of creating
supports is automated, but sometimes it’s not. Either way, you’ll have to remove the supports
later. With selective laser sintering, however, the powder itself may actually act as a support –
and this decreases both raw material usage and the time needed to make the part.

Second, SLS, unlike SLA, doesn’t need post-curing or anything of that nature. You may
need to heat up the powder to speed up the work of the laser, but that’s it. Since there’s no
curing, the finished product won’t lose its shape with time.

Third, flexible snaps and living hinges can be made since SLS parts are flexible. With
SLA, the parst are rigid and flexibility is impossible.

SLS is economical and fast, and is great for prototyping. You might think that SLS is the
best 3D printing technology there is!

Disadvantages of SLS

Yes, selective laser sintering has some disadvantages. Probably the biggest of them is that
the fabricated prototypes are porous. This depends on the material used, as well as a few other
factors. But generally you can expect an SLS-made part to have a rough, porous surface – and it
probably won’t be as strong as a molded part, either. However, SLS parts can be coated to
smooth out the surface and make the part stronger.

SLS is a more complex operation, and has more build variables. For this reason, the part
might not be printed as accurately as a part made using stereolithography. The complexity of the
build variables can make it a little more difficult to get the precise temperatures required, and
excess fused material can compromise dimensional accuracy.

Still, SLS is a great 3D printing technology. You can create parts of almost any
complexity out of a wide variety of materials, quickly and cheaply. It may not be as precise as
SLA, but it’s much more robust, easier to machine, and can be used to create not only concept
models, but parts that are very close in properties to a molded piece, depending on the materials
used.

So if you’re making a concept model, go with SLA. If you want to make a part for
functional testing, or perhaps you need to build a drone from scratch, choose selective laser
sintering.

Technology

An additive manufacturing layer technology, SLS involves the use of a high power laser
(for example, a carbon dioxide laser) to fuse small particles of plastic, metal, ceramic, or glass
powders into a mass that has a desired three-dimensional shape. The laser selectively fuses
powdered material by scanning cross-sections generated from a 3-D digital description of the
part (for example from a CAD file or scan data) on the surface of a powder bed. After each
cross-section is scanned, the powder bed is lowered by one layer thickness, a new layer of
material is applied on top, and the process is repeated until the part is completed.

Because finished part density depends on peak laser power, rather than laser duration, a
SLS machine typically uses a pulsed laser. 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.

In contrast with some other additive manufacturing processes, such as stereolithography

(SLA) and fused deposition modeling (FDM), which most often require special support
structures to fabricate overhanging designs, SLS does not need a separate feeder for support
material because the part being constructed is surrounded by unsintered powder at all times, this
allows for the construction of previously impossible geometries. Also, since the machine's
chamber is always filled with powder material the fabrication of multiple parts has a far lower
impact on the overall difficulty and price of the design because through a technique known as
'Nesting' multiple parts can be positioned to fit within the boundaries of the machine. One design
aspect which should be observed however is that with SLS it is 'impossible' to fabricate a hollow
but fully enclosed element. This is because the unsintered powder within the element can't be
drained.

Since patents have started to expire, affordable home printers have become possible, but
the heating process is still an obstacle, with a power consumption of up to 5 kW and
temperatures having to be controlled within 2 °C for the three stages of preheating, melting and
storing before removal.

Materials and applications

Some SLS machines use single-component powder, such as direct metal laser sintering.
Powders are commonly produced by ball milling. However, most SLS machines use two-
component powders, typically either coated powder or a powder mixture. In single-component
powders, the laser melts only the outer surface of the particles (surface melting), fusing the solid
non-melted cores to each other and to the previous layer.

Compared with other methods of additive manufacturing, SLS can produce parts from a
relatively wide range of commercially available powder materials. These include polymers such
as nylon (neat, glass-filled, or with other fillers) or polystyrene, metals including steel, titanium,
alloy mixtures, and composites and green sand. The physical process can be full melting, partial
melting, or liquid-phase sintering. Depending on the material, up to 100% density can be
achieved with material properties comparable to those from conventional manufacturing
methods. In many cases large numbers of parts can be packed within the powder bed, allowing
very high productivity.

SLS technology is in wide use around the world due to its ability to easily make very
complex geometries directly from digital CAD data. While it began as a way to build prototype
parts early in the design cycle, it is increasingly being used in limited-run manufacturing to
produce end-use parts. One less expected and rapidly growing application of SLS is its use in art.