For more than three decades, Stratasys Direct has been at the forefront of powder bed fusion (PBF) additive manufacturing. Our wealth of experience, combined with a dedicated team of engineers and prestigious certifications, positions us as the partner of choice for additive manufacturing solutions – from design to production. Whether your needs lean towards batch or serialized production, our Selective Absorption Fusion (SAF®) printing services redefine the landscape by delivering consistently repeatable parts at a lower per-part cost.
SAF® presents a significant advancement in plastic part production, offering a solution to address limitations commonly encountered in traditional manufacturing, such as high tool-up costs, restricted build capacity, and supply chain constraints. This revolutionary technology opens new avenues for both rapid prototyping and volume production. Discover the power of SAF powder bed fusion and let Stratasys Direct guide you toward a more efficient and cost-effective approach to plastic part manufacturing.
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Stratasys Direct offers two robust powder bed fusion (PBF) thermoplastics that provide the essential properties for high-performance volume production, including impact resistance, durability, and thermal stability.
Ordering SAF parts through our online platform is fast and easy. Upload your files with a click and get instant quotes 24/7/365. What's more, our SAF powder bed fusion (PBF) printing service is backed by industry experts who are available to provide engineering and DFAM assistance to enhance your parts' design and functionality.
Elevate the aesthetics and performance of your SAF parts with the expertise of Stratasys Direct's finishing and assembly team. Our expert finishing team enhances part surface quality and performance through a range of secondary processing applications, including precision sanding, plating, painting, inserts, and more. From the initial concept to the completion, we artfully transform SAF components into masterpieces, surpassing expectations with every detail. Trust us to redefine the excellence of your SAF parts through our comprehensive finishing and assembly services.
At Stratasys Direct, our commitment to surpassing industry benchmarks is evident in our meticulous adherence to rigorous quality standards for Selective Absorption Fusion (SAF) manufacturing. Stratasys Direct maintains the highest quality standards throughout the SAF process, ensuring consistent material handling, recycling, machine maintenance, and adherence to strict process control. Our comprehensive quality systems ensure material traceability, mechanical property verification, and dimensional checks, underscoring our dedication to unwavering excellence. Our proven success with SAF part production is a clear example of how Stratasys Direct is providing additive solutions in real-world use cases.
This guide offers comprehensive assistance for designers utilizing Stratasys' SAF 3D printing technology, catering to both novice and seasoned users. It covers optimization techniques for enhancing design features, strength, and durability of printed parts, along with best practices for additive manufacturing, leveraging SAF's unique capabilities, while minimizing costs and post-processing challenges.
SAF is a robust additive manufacturing technology capable of producing prototypes, manufacturing aids, and higher-volume, end-use parts with ease.
SAF™ technology powers a new plastic powder bed fusion (PBF) process to achieve higher volume manufacturing of end-use production parts. This technology enables comprehensive control of the printing process to deliver accurate, consistent, and repeatable parts with engineering-grade thermoplastic materials, allowing the capability to replace injection molding.
SAF™ technology produces small to medium functional plastic parts with tighter tolerances than SLS with an improved surface finish perfect for end-use components.
Built from the ground up with production-level printing in mind, SAF™ delivers exactly what you need – production quantities and competitive prices, all backed by the industry-leading production capabilities of Stratasys Direct Manufacturing.
How SAF™ 3D Printing Helps Lower Production Costs
Selective Absorption fusion is a great option for building higher quantities of a single production part design or leveraging batching to build several types of production parts all at once while maximizing cost-effective production.
Primary cost drivers are material consumption and build height, so you can make your parts as intricate as you would like or consolidate assemblies with ease. Complexity is free with SAF™ technology. Nesting your parts will further maximize your budget by reducing the manufacturing cycle time for each build.
Selective Absorption Fusion (SAF™) 3d printing is a polymer powder bed fusion process that uses industrial-grade piezo-electric printheads that jet high absorption fluid (HAF) onto a powder bed to define the area in which to form the 3d-printed object.
The powder bed is then exposed to infrared (IR) energy. The parts of the bed that have HAF have a higher emissivity, which allows it to absorb more IR energy than the surrounding powder. This selectively fuses the parts in a layer-by-layer process.
Made for the manufacturing industry, the entire SAF platform is built around repeatability and reliability. The powder is added to each layer through a proprietary Big Wave process. This ensures that each layer reliably has enough powder regardless of how much is printed on that layer. SAF also uses an advanced thermal control system that guarantees part repeatability with every build.
SAF has a unidirectional print process, meaning that every layer takes the same amount of time between fluid deposition, energy application, and powder recoating regardless of each part’s location in the bed or its complexity.
The unidirectional print process and advanced thermal control allow for an industry-best nesting density (the total volume of parts divided by the available building space). This enables the manufacturing team to maximize space and put multiple types of geometries together in a build. This makes SAF cost-effective when manufacturing hundreds or thousands of 3D-printed end-use parts.
The parts are supported during the printing process by the powder itself, and once the parts have finished building, they must cool to room temperature. The parts are then removed by hand from the powder and cleaned off with compressed air and media blast, and unfused powder is able to be recycled into the next build which helps lower costs.
