High Speed Sintering on Track for 2017 Release

If you are at all familiar with additive manufacturing (AM), you’ll no doubt have heard repeated refrains on why the technology isn’t really as disruptive as the media might suggest. It’s too slow, too low-volume, and too expensive to be considered capable of mass manufacturing.

The University of Sheffield has been working on a solution to the commonly cited problems with AM, and its name is high speed sintering (HSS). In development for over six years, HSS promises to bring speed and volume production to AM, which can result in reduced expenses.

High speed sintering will allow AM to compete with injection molding. Courtesy of the University of Sheffield.

HSS pops up now and then in the news whenever the university feels like reminding people the answer to many AM questions is just around the corner. Along with funding from the UK, the new process has drawn attention and garnered assistance from businesses such as BAE Systems, Unilever and Xaar (an inkjet print head manufacturer). AM manufacturer Voxeljet intends to offer the system for sale by 2017, or 2018 at the very latest.

HSS works by coating powder with carbon black in the shape of the object to be printed. That ink is then treated by an infrared lamp that passes over the same area, hardening the material. Just as with other AM processes, those steps are repeated until a three dimensional object is created. Over time, researchers have learned what amount of carbon black is required for the best results.

Currently, small parts can be built at the rate of one second per part, which would make the process a match for injection molding. Assuming the system can scale that pace for larger parts, it might be possible to produce the customary Yoda head, wrench, or Eiffel Tower tests in minutes rather than hours.

The university is projecting the system will cost around £1m (about $1.5 million) upon release, which puts the system firmly in realm of big business and industrial production.

Below you’ll find a video about HSS.

Sources: University of Sheffield, Financial Times