Current Status and Prospects of Polymer Powder 3D Printing Technologies

3D printing technology, which greatly simplifies the manufacturing of complex parts by a two-dimensional layer-upon-layer process, has flourished in recent years. As one of the most advanced technology, polymer powder 3D printing has many advantages such as high materials utilization rate, free of support structure, great design freedom, and large available materials, which has shown great potential and prospects in various industry applications. With the launch of the Multi jet Fusion system from HP, polymer powder 3D printing has been attracting more attention from industries and researchers. In this work, a comprehensive review of the main polymer powder-based 3D printing methods including binder jetting, selective laser sintering, high-speed sintering were carried out. Their forming mechanism, advantages and drawbacks, materials, and developments were presented, compared, and discussed respectively. In addition, this paper also gives suggestions on the process selection by comparing typical equipment parameters and features of each technology.