[3D Printing News] The Latest 3D Printing Technology - SLS
If you want your company to thrive and remain competitive, you need to use the best tools to get the job done. That's an unchanging fact.
This is true in any job or industry.
If your goal is to leverage new technologies, you must use cutting-edge machines to ensure you stay ahead of the competition.
The same applies to 3D printing. Now imagine if you could complete your task faster and more efficiently, avoiding a lot of trouble—that would be wonderful, wouldn't it? It's that easy as long as you choose the right 3D printing technology.
To choose the right 3D printing technology, you must judge the advantages and disadvantages of various technologies. 
What are FDM, SLA, and SLS?
These are all different technologies, different 3D printing methods. FDM stands for Fused Deposition Modeling - in this process, the model is made by extruding a flat filament of molten material, which hardens immediately after extrusion.
SLA is an abbreviation for Stereolithography, which uses photopolymerization to connect molecular chains together using light to form a 3D polymer structure. Both SLA and Stereolithography can be considered forms of micro-sculpture, but they use different methods to bond the structures together.
Finally, there is SLS - Selective Laser Sintering, which is a completely different technology. It uses powder (most commonly polyamide - a type of nylon), which is then heated and melted in specific areas with laser light, sintering continuous layers into a durable model.
How does it take shape? You can imagine a miniature sandbox where layers of polyamide "sand" are melted in several places, then covered with a new powder coating, allowing laser light to reach another layer—and then smelting again in carefully selected locations. After this, the structure slowly emerges from the powder.
The importance of accuracy and supporting structure
Many people tend to think that the more objects you can print, the better. But in reality, the opposite is often true. What's the point of printing huge objects if you're printing something that looks clumsy and inaccurate?
As people say, the devil is in the details; when creating objects, you need precision.
The higher the precision you need—the narrower the layers that can be printed—and the more complex your model may become. This is why SLS technology has started to gain popularity. Because it uses polyamide powder with an average particle size of 38 microns, it can produce layers as thin as 0.075 mm or less. In comparison: FDM printers typically only achieve layer thicknesses of around 0,100 mm, while SLA, although performing much better in this respect, can still only produce layers about twice as thick as SLS (down to 0.15 mm). 
But it's not entirely about accuracy. There's also the factor of using supporting structures.
When you print a model, it needs support, otherwise it will tip over. After all, gravity is quite relentless. If you're using FDM or SLA printing, you'll need to make special supports so the model can stand or hang.
These support structures must be removed manually or chemically after printing to smooth the surface. All of this takes time, but most importantly, using support structures limits your printing options. Some things simply cannot be printed. SLS avoids these limitations, giving you unparalleled mold freedom.
It's all thanks to a very clever idea: the support structure is made of spare powder that isn't used during the printing process, but rather resides in the printer's chamber. Remember the sandbox? It's sintered at selected locations during each layer of printing. Once the model is finished, you simply remove the spare powder, and it's ready to use.
Time and cost benefits
Okay, it's great to be able to print a lot of detailed models, but what if you need quantity rather than complexity and quality?
This is another common problem; why don't we put them all together?
With SLS, this becomes entirely possible, thanks to a process called "nesting." It's quite simple – because you need to use more powder, rather than actually needing to print specific structures (the actual number will be defined by the height of your model), you can put more models into the printer's chamber, allowing them to be printed at once. The laser light will have more points sintered, which lengthens the printing process, but works exactly the same way. Even with the increased time, it's still faster than printing each structure one at a time, not to mention the fact that an entire complex model can be completed in one go.
If we also consider the time required to dismantle the supporting structure and model components—which is absolutely essential for FDM and SLA printing—it's easy to see that SLS is undoubtedly the fastest 3D printing technology currently available.
However, you might wonder: if you have to use so much powder every time you print something, how cost-effective is SLS? It depends, but overall it's much better than it sounds. SLS printers are optimized for high-volume printing, but that doesn't mean printing a single model is a bad idea. Making it feasible is paramount, and you can recycle the powder that isn't used (sintered) during the printing process. You'll have to mix it with some fresh material to get it working—for the Sinterit Lisa printer, the ratio is 7/3—but ultimately, using a printer won't be as expensive as you might think.
Durability and resistance, no need to cut corners
The materials used in SLS printing exhibit high durability of the printed structure. PA 12 smooth material was one of two commonly used types during measurements at Charpy impact tests, with the U-notch type achieving a maximum fracturing energy of 5.23 [KJ, m²/m²] at 3.28 [KJ] and the V-notch type. It is also worth noting that this durability is achieved without sacrificing the option of printing movable parts in the model.
On the other hand, if you choose to use TPU Flexa Black material, you can get impressive chemical resistance, temperature resistance, and UV resistance, while also having great flexibility. Flexa Black has a melting temperature of 150-160 degrees Celsius, can withstand UV radiation, not to mention chemicals: acetone, glycerin, gasoline, methanol, etc. 
groundbreaking technology
As you can see, there is currently a 3D printing technology on the market that has significant advantages over other technologies – Selective Laser Sintering (SLS). You might wonder why SLS isn't used everywhere; that's because it still has its drawbacks – it requires a lot of space and is quite expensive.
Because of these issues, it was only used in large-scale manufacturing printers. But technology continues to advance, and the world is still changing. Like the Sinterit Lisa 3D printer mentioned above, SLS additive manufacturing technology is now applicable to all medium-sized desks and inexpensive accessories.
Original link: https://www.sinterit.com/sls-the-cutting-edge-in-3d-printing/