What is SLS 3D printing?
SLS stands for Selective Laser Sintering, which is a 3D printing method where a polymer or thermoplastic powder is sintered by pointing a laser that transforms the powder into a solid plastic piece. This process is part of the group of Powder Bed Fusion technologies, and it achieves the fusion of the material by layers that represent cross sections of the model built in the CAD/CAM software. Although the explanation above seems to be describing a newly developed technology, the truth is that SLS 3D printing is one of the oldest additive manufacturing methods, first developed in the 80s by doctors Carl Deckard and Joe Beaman at the University of Texas at Austin. As with other 3D printing processes, it all begins with a 3D CAD model that is processed by the software of the printer to generate the layers that will be printed. After that, the SLS 3D printing process takes the following steps: 1.The platform where the piece is printed is located inside a chamber known as the powder bin or