Sinterit introduced a flexible thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) powder specifically designed for its Lisa series of selective laser sintering (SLS) printers.
Flexa Soft is the fifth material product provided by Sinterit. Its Shore A hardness is between 40-55, which is the softest. Other materials include Flexa Black and Flexa Grey, other TPUs, and PA12 Smooth and PA11, the latter only for Lisa 2 Pro machines. Based on print settings and Flexa Grey 70/90, Flexa Black has a hardness of 80/90 on the Shore A scale.
New materials will make Sinterit a new application for new markets. Medical and fashion are two markets that the company immediately proposed. With the increasing use of 3D printing in these two areas, Sinterit has been working to meet these needs, albeit at different speeds.
In the medical environment, Flexa Soft can be used in surgical models to help surgeons perform pre-surgical trial procedures. Softer materials are better than harder materials because they are easier to cut with a scalpel. At the same time, in terms of fashion, Flexa Soft can easily adapt to the body of the wearer. According to Sinterit, the increased elasticity also makes the material suitable for the prototyping of gaskets and sensory toys.
"Our customers are very keen to try new powders and are constantly asking us to develop new powders, which will expand the manufacturing possibilities of Sinterit Lisa printers," commented Konrad Glowacki, co-founder of Sinterit. "We are very open to these issues because we know that the capabilities of SLS rapid prototyping have not been fully utilized."