Toward pharmaceutical selective laser sintering 3D printing - a thermal and temperature-dependent analysis
Marta Łaszcz1, Magdalena Urbanowicz1, Ewelina Baran2
1Falsified Medicines and Medical Devices Department, National Medicines Institute, Chełmska 30/34, 00-725 Warsaw, Poland.
Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews
|September 27, 2025
Summary
Pharmaceutical additive manufacturing (AM) using selective laser sintering (SLS) requires deeper thermal analysis. Technical SLS methods offer valuable insights for optimizing pharmaceutical powder design and processing windows.
Area of Science:
- Pharmaceutical Science
- Materials Engineering
- Additive Manufacturing
Background:
- Pharmaceutical additive manufacturing (AM) offers advantages but faces underexplored challenges.
- Selective laser sintering (SLS) is a viable AM technique for pharmaceuticals, yet its specific aspects are not widely studied.
- Existing pharmaceutical AM literature often overlooks critical thermal and powder property analyses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To bridge the knowledge gap by examining technical SLS insights applicable to pharmaceutical applications.
- To highlight the importance of thermal properties, processing windows, and energy density in pharmaceutical SLS.
- To identify key research directions for advancing pharmaceutical SLS.
Main Methods:
- Parallel literature review of technical (non-pharmaceutical) and pharmaceutical SLS.
- Analysis of temperature-dependent rheological and optical powder properties.
- Exploration of thermal analysis techniques (fast differential calorimetry, hot-stage microscopy, thermovision, dielectric thermal analysis).
Main Results:
- Technical SLS research provides in-depth data on powder thermal and rheological properties, crucial for process optimization.
- Pharmaceutical SLS studies generally lack comprehensive thermal analysis, with few exceptions focusing on drug amorphization.
- Key terms like 'processing window' and 'energy density' are still evolving in the context of pharmaceutical SLS.
Conclusions:
- Pharmaceutical SLS can significantly benefit from methodologies and concepts established in technical SLS.
- Future research should focus on tailored powder design, expanded analytical methods, consolidation elucidation, powder management, and novel excipient development for pharmaceutical SLS.
