Selective Laser Sintering and Its Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Selective laser sintering (SLS), a mature and versatile rapid prototyping (RP) technology, uses a laser beam to selectively sinter powdered materials to form three-dimensional objects, porous or non-porous, according to the computer-aided design which can be based on data obtained from advanced medical imaging technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computer tomography (CT). In this chapter, major RP technologies suitable for biomedical applications are briefly introduced first. A review is made on SLS, including its working principle, modification of commercial SLS machines for fabricating biomedical products, biomedical SLS materials, and optimization of SLS parameters. Finally, a detailed presentation is given on the biomedical application of SLS, focusing on the fabrication of tissue engineering scaffolds and drug or biomolecule delivery vehicles. It is shown that SLS has great potential for many biomimetic and biomedical applications.