Material Technology: Selective Absorption Fusion (SAF)

Selective Absorption Fusion (SAF) is an industrial powder bed fusion process built for high-volume, repeatable production of end-use plastic parts. Instead of a laser, SAF uses an inkjet-style print head to deposit an infrared-absorbing fluid onto a bed of polymer powder. Infrared lamps then pass over the bed, and the areas coated in
fluid heat up faster than the powder around them, fusing only the material that makes up that layer’s cross-section while everything else stays loose. The build platform drops, a fresh, evenly leveled layer of powder is spread across the bed, and the process repeats, layer by layer, until the full “cake” of parts is complete.