The Future of Multi-Material 3D Printing

We all know that SLS is the big leagues, because the parts are isotropic, but the one thing which FDM/FFF printing can do which SLS can't is Multi-Material printing. Well, researchers at Columbia University's Creative Machines Lab have come up with a way. Of course this new technique will have it's own host of issues. Most obvious is keeping the print from sticking to the glass. If you read the scientific paper and can't understand the technique just think about combining SLS with SLA. The laser shines from underneath through a glass bed and fuses the powered plastic particles together. Then another glass with a different powdered plastic slides in and that plastic get's hit with the laser thus creating a single layer with two different materials. Great idea! Execution is everything.

Science Direct Published Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214860420308125?via%3Dihub Stratasys SLS printing Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiUUZxp7bLQ Video Of the prototype Machine from Columbia Engineering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTYZ--fnXoo&feature=emb_logo ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zwi0Us4nmRE