Benefits of SLS

  • No support structures needed in the design
  • Allows for complex geometries
  • Possible to produce very strong, light parts

Best suited for

  • Production parts
  • Complex builds

Materials for SLS

  • Carbon SLS
  • Graphite SLS

Selective laser sintering (SLS), produces tough parts with high temperature resistance that are stable over time. SLS is often the technology we use for producing end-use parts. We have also developed sealing techniques to make our parts air tight, and water or chemical resistant.

To ensure your components have the mechanical properties you have specified, we build and test mechanical test bars on every SLS build. The mechanical data we publish is always from actual results, as opposed to taken from the manufacturers’ data sheets.

The Selective Laser Sintering process

The SLS process uses a bed of powdered material which is fused a layer at a time by a high power, CO2 laser.

The laser ‘draws’ a single layer cross-section of the required part on the surface of the powder bed, accurately creating the part layer and joining it to the layer below.

When each layer has been completed, the powder bed lowers and the process is repeated one layer at a time until the required object is complete. During construction, an object being built by SLS is supported by the surrounding powder – it is possible therefore to build very complex geometries without any need for interfering support structures. In this way the SLS process allows previously impossible shapes to be built.