Ideas too large for a print bed?
Stereolithography, also known as SLA or SL for short, is the veteran of 3D printing technologies. It’s been around at Materialise since 1990, and continues to be one of the most widely-used rapid prototyping technologies for plastic models.
Why choose Stereolithography?
When you need a part printed yesterday and delivered right now, Stereolithography is what you want to be looking at. It’s a technology that produces great looking models with impeccable surface quality in no time. At Materialise, we’ve also developed our own patented Mammoth Stereolithography machines that let us build and ship parts in less than a day. And they even give you the freedom to 3D print parts up to 2 meters long in a single build.
Ideal applications for Stereolithography
- Visual prototypes for photo shoots and market testing
- “Show and tell” parts with smooth surfaces and fine details
- Prototypes for limited functional testing
- Masters for copying techniques such as Vacuum Casting
- Alternatives for sheet metal prototypes when coated with a metal plating process
- Patterns for investment casting
- Low-volume production of complex geometries
Technical Specifications
| Standard lead time |
Minimum of 3 working days (or 12 hours for models using the NextDay service at Materialise OnSite), depending on part size, number of components and finishing degrees |
| Standard accuracy |
±0.2% (with a lower limit on ±0.2 mm) |
| Layer thickness |
Mammoth SL: 0.1 mm |
| Minimum wall thickness |
1 – 3 mm (depending on part dimensions) |
| Maximum build dimensions |
2100 x 700 x 800 mm (offline orders) |
| Surface structure |
Unfinished parts typically have visible building layers on the surface but post-production finishes can achieve different effects, from high glosses to coarse textures. Stereolithography parts can be sandblasted, painted, varnished, covered and coated |
Materials
Your 3D Printing Toolkit
How Does Stereolithography Work?
Stereolithography is a laser-based technology that uses a UV-sensitive liquid resin. A UV laser beam scans the surface of the resin and selectively hardens the material corresponding to a cross-section of the product, building the 3D part from the bottom to the top. The required supports for overhangs and cavities are automatically generated, and later manually removed.
Need prototypes fast?
From your design to your desk in 24 hours. NextDay prototypes.
Deadlines matter. If you’re in a rush and need your prototypes ASAP, we offer you dedicated NextDay service using Stereolithography machines reserved for just that purpose. We can ensure lead times of under 1 working day for your most time-critical projects. Let’s put the ‘rapid’ back into rapid prototyping.
We'd love to hear about your projects and see how we can help.