Follow On: Proving commercial liability of high speed sintering through a larger build area

High Speed Sintering (HSS) has been invented under EPSRC funded research at Loughborough University. The process allows the manufacture of complex components by sintering powder in successive layers, in a manner similar to an existing commercially valuable Rapid Manufacturing process called Selective Laser Sintering (SLS). At Loughborough we have been able to prove that HSS works when making polymeric parts in a small area (50mmxl00mm). However it is only by making parts over a big area that HSS will be commercially competitive. If we are able to make high strength parts over a much bigger area (280mmx330mm) then HSS should prove to be 10 times faster than SLS and around 5 times cheaper. By successfully making parts on a big area using HSS we are confident that we will be able to convince companies to license the technology (under our patents) and make commercial HSS machines. We have various research projects in progress and in the pipeline to support this work, however the Follow on Fund project is the only work directly aimed at securing a license.