High Speed Sintering

High-Speed Sintering (HSS) - invented at and patented by Loughborough University - is the original 3D-printing process to enable low-cost, high-volume, mass manufacture of complex and customisable parts, that competes economically with injection moulding.

Since 2016, the subsequent global rollout of the HSS processes, under license to multiple companies has revolutionised the mass manufacture of polymer parts and is accelerating the shift towards digital manufacturing leading to global economic, environmental and health impacts.

Many sectors have adopted HSS in their end-product supply chains - including aerospace, automotive, consumer goods, healthcare and medical - and a growing number of global brands have adopted HSS to create their products.

_{Image courtesy of Xaar plc}

Initially, he and his team explored and demonstrated a novel sintering process which was patented in 2003.

The team continued work to develop the process and, in 2004, secured funding from EPSRC to build the first laboratory-based HSS machine. This facilitated systematic testing and the refinement of key manufacturing parameters.

Collaborative R&D Project funding from Innovate UK accelerated the technology development and the University filed a process improvement patent in 2011. Just three years later, HSS machines became commercially available.

Since then, the HSS process has evolved rapidly, and is now known as Selective Absorption Fusion (SAF). The technology was acquired by Stratasys in 2021. The H350 – the first 3D printer to use SAF – was launched in 2022.