Annals of 3D Printed Medicine 6 (2022) 100054

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Annals of 3D Printed Medicine

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Research paper

Selective laser sintering (SLS) of 3D printlets using a 3D printer comprised

of IR/red-diode laser
Srushti Lekurwaley, Tukaram Karanwady, Subham Banerjee*
Department of Pharmaceutics, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER)-Guwahati, Changsari, Assam 781101, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article History: The aim of this study was to employ and understand the feasibility of an infrared (IR)/red-diode laser with a
Received 13 December 2021 wavelength of 808 nm for the selective laser sintering (SLS)-mediated sintering of 3D printlets, altering the
Revised 13 February 2022 dye composition and temperature variations. KollicoatÒ IR (KIR) and an infrared (IR) laser-absorbing dye
Accepted 19 February 2022
were physically mixed at various concentrations and subjected to SLS-mediated sintering to achieve 3D
Available online 21 February 2022
printlets by varying printing temperature (feed and print beds) at a fixed laser power ratio. Initially, the
Keywords: desired concentration of dye (1.25% w/w) was selected based on its sintering performance, and the same con-
Selective laser sintering (SLS) centration was used to sinter the physical mixtures (PMs) at different feed bed temperatures (between 100 °C
3D printing and 130 °C) and print bed temperature (120 °C to 150 °C), keeping the laser power ratio constant (1.0). It was
3D Printlets found that good sintering performance was associated with a feed bed temperature of 130 °C and a print bed
IR/red-diode laser temperature of 150 °C. Printlets obtained from the aforementioned conditions showed highest dimensional
accuracy (9.31 § 0.30 mm diameter and 3.56 § 0.04 mm thickness) in respect to feeded CAD dimensions
(10 mm diameter and 3.60 mm thickness) with an average weight of 77.45 § 4.56 mg. In addition, no physical/
thermal or chemical degradation of the sintered 3D printlets was observed during the thermal and functional
group analysis, respectively. Depending on the conditions given, we can conclude that an IR/red diode laser
with a wavelength of 808 nm and a laser power ratio of 1.0 is feasible for sintering 3D printlets.
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

1. Introduction
Selective laser sintering (SLS) is a powder bed fusion technology
which utilises laser energy to selectively heat powder particles,
resulting in partial powder melting followed by the fusion of particles
and subsequent solidification to give a 3D structure according to
computer-aided design (CAD) [1,2]. It eliminates the need for a vari-
ety of excipients and solvents, and can fabricate solid oral dosage
forms of diverse shapes and sizes in a single step with high precision,
followed by the reprocessing and recycling of feedstock as an added
benefit. SLS enables the variation of various process parameters such
as feed bed temperature, print bed temperature, laser power, layer
thickness, and hatch spacing to fabricate objects with controlled
compaction, porosity, and internal architectures, so that the release
of the drug can be controlled according to the requirements [2,3,4].
Currently, different SLS 3D printers are available, with wide varia-
tions in the type of laser source with which they are equipped. Some
of them have already been explored in pharmaceuticals (Sintratec
Kit: blue diode laser, 2.3 W, λ 445 nm; SharebotÒ SnowWhite: CO2
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: banerjee.subham@yahoo.co.in (S. Banerjee).
y Srushti Lekurwale and Tukaram Karanwad contributed equally.
laser, 14 W, λ 10.6 mm; Jinke Trading: blue diode laser, 3.5 W, λ
450 nm) by various researchers [3,5,6,7]. Our study emphasises, for
the first time, the feasibility of 3D printing for possible pharmaceuti-
cal applications using an SLS-mediated 3D printer with an IR/red-
diode laser with a wavelength of 808 nm using KollicoatÒ IR (KIR)
and an infrared (IR) laser absorbing dye.
KIR is a copolymer of polyvinyl alcohol and polyethylene glycol. It
shows immediate and pH-independent release, appropriate flow
properties, and particle size less than 180 mm, making it a suitable
candidate for sintering [8,9]. KIR was previously used for the success-
ful sintering of solid oral dosage forms using an SLS-based 3D printer
via a 2.3 W blue diode laser with a wavelength of 445 nm [4,10].
Based on our available SLS-based 3D printer equipped with a 5.0 W
IR /red-diode laser with a wavelength of 808 nm, we attempted to
investigate the possible sinterability of KIR to form 3D printlets using
an IR-absorbing dye. We also made an attempt to asess the effects of
varying the dye concentration and temperature on the sintering per-
formance of the compositions.
To understand the impact of the printing temperature on sinter-
ing, it is necessary to understand the role of bed heating in the sinter-
ing process. Successful sintering of the desired printlets requires
heating the feedstock before and during the sintering process to
maintain the temperature equilibrium required for sintering. The

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stlm.2022.100054
2666-9641/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
S. Lekurwale, T. Karanwad and S. Banerjee
heating of feedstock facilitates sintering in various ways. For exam-
ple, it minimises the energy required for sintering provided by the
laser, reduces the thermal expansion of the feedstock due to the laser,
reduces the thermal shock between the sintered and surrounding
unsintered powder, and reduces the shrinkage of the semi-crystalline
polymer during cooling and recrystallisation [5,11].
This study will be significant in view of further research in the
area of pharmaceutical applications of SLS-3D printing using this par-
ticular printer. Understanding the effects of process parameters on
the quality of the resultant printlets will help researchers to select
the optimal process parameters in the future. This is a novel initiative
in the field of applications of 3D printing in the pharmaceutical
research area with given technological specifications that are
expected to have high applicability in the pharmaceutical industry in
the future because of its ability to deliver drugs stable under sintering
conditions in a highly tailored manner.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
KollicoatÒ IR (KIR), a Macrogol-poly (vinyl alcohol) graft-copoly-
mer, and polyvinyl alcohol-polyethylene glycol graft co-polymer,
purchased from Sigma-Aldrich, USA, was used as matrix former/poly-
mer for sintering purposes. IR-absorbing dye was purchased from
American Dye Source, Inc., Chemicals, Baie d’Urfe, Quebec, USA.
2.2. CAD design
Cylindrical shape tablet structure having dimensions 10.0 mm
diameter £ 3.6 mm thickness (Fig. 1) was designed using CAD soft-
ware (Solidworks 2019). The CAD file was converted into a (.stl) file
readable in the printer software.
2.3. Sintering of 3D printlets
0.00%, 0.04%, 0.60%, and 1.25% w/w IR-absorbing dye were mixed
with 1.0 Kg KIR. The dye−polymer blends were mixed properly and
passed through a metal strainer. Physical mixtures (PMs) were then

was accurately weighed in an aluminium crucible and hermetically
transferred to the feed bed of the SLS printer (Sinterit Lisa 1.5, KrakOw,
Poland) having the 5.0 W IR laser (λ808 nm) to print the 3D printlets
(prototypes) by sintering the materials. The CAD of the tablet was
exported as stereolithography (.stl) file in SLS-3D printer software
(Sinterit Studio 2019). The feedstock from the feed bed of the printer
was moved to the print bed (150 mm £ 200 mm £ 160 mm) by a
recoater during the levelling process, resulting in a uniform layer with
a thickness of 0.125 mm on the print bed. The feed bed temperature
and print bed temperature (printing temperature) were set at 90 °C-
130 °C and 110 °C-150 °C, respectively. A class 4 laser of 5.0 W power
Fig. 1. CAD of tablet structure with desired diameter and thickness.
2
Annals of 3D Printed Medicine 6 (2022) 100054
with 808 nm wavelength was allowed to shower on a particular region
selectively on the print bed where printlets are supposed to be 3D
printed through sintering. The laser power ratio used throughout the
sintering was kept as 1.0. After the complete sintering of one layer, the
feed bed moves up, the print bed moves down, and another layer of
fixed uniform thickness is formed on the previous layer. This layer-by-
layer sintering process was continued until sintering of the final 3D
printlet was complete. Sintered printlets were isolated from the unsin-
tered feedstock using a manual sieving procedure, and the excess pow-
der material adhered to the printlets was removed by brushing. The
unsintered PMs and excess powder collected from the overflow bin
were mixed properly and again subjected to sintering for the subse-
quent batch. This process was repeated until the last batch reported in
this study. This is because the printer offers the fabrication of printlets
on a large scale and its feedstock requirements are higher. However,
the laser only affects a specific portion of the powder bed, as per .stl
file, we can reuse the unsintered powder material of one batch for sub-
sequent batches to avoid wastage of material and to make the fabrica-
tion cost-effective [8,12,13,14]. Composition variations while assessing
the sinterability of PMs at different dye concentrations and tempera-
ture variations while assessing the sinterability of PMs at different
feed and print bed temperatures are presented in Tables 1 and 2,
respectively.
2.4. Physical dimensions and weight variations
The diameters and thicknesses of the sintered 3D printlets were
measured using a digital Vernier calliper (CD-600 ASX; Mitutoyo Cor-
poration, Japan). The weight of each tablet from all prototyped print-
lets was measured (in mg) using a digital weighing balance (Mettler
Toledo, Switzerland).
2.5. Thermal analysis
Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to characterise
the polymer (KIR), IR-absorbing dye, dye: polymer PMs, and all dye-
loaded (1.25% w/w) sintered 3D printlets (D4, T1-T4). Thermal analysis
of all aforementioned samples was performed using DSC (DSC-3,
Mettler Toledo, Switzerland). Approximately 5.0 mg of each sample
sealed. Subsequently, the samples were subjected to DSC analysis in
the heating range of 30−250 °C at a heating rate of 10 °C/min. Nitro-
gen was used as a purging gas to maintain an inert atmosphere at a
flow rate of 20 mL/min.
2.6. Functional group analysis
A Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometre (Alpha Ⅱ,
ECO-ATR, Bruker, Germany) was used to evaluate the % transmittance
of the polymer (KIR), IR-absorbing dye, dye: polymer PMs, and all
dye-loaded (1.25% w/w) sintered 3D printlets (D4, T1-T4). The trans-
mittance was recorded from 4000 cm1 to 400 cm1 using the ATR
technique.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Sintering of 3D printlets
PMs were sintered using an infrared laser (λ - 808 nm) using Sin-
terit Studio 2019 software while assessing the sinterability of PMs at
different dye concentrations and different feed and print bed temper-
atures. To better assess the sinterability of PMs, the effects of different
dye concentrations, feed bed, and print bed temperatures on the sin-
tering process, sintered 3D printlets were investigated systematically
in terms of their dimensional accuracy, weight variations, thermal
(DSC) analysis, and functional group (FTIR) analysis. Therefore, we
S. Lekurwale, T. Karanwad and S. Banerjee
Table 1
Composition variations while assessing sinterability of PMs at different dye concentrations.
Dye Code KIR(% W/W) Dye(% W/W) Feed bed temperature ( °C)
D1 100 0.00 90
D2 99.96 0.04 90
D3 99.40 0.60 90
D4 98.75 1.25 90
divided our study into two major substeps. In each sub-step, sintering
of the powder blend was allowed by keeping all parameters constant
and only one variable. Finally, we found that factors such as sinter-
ability, dimensional accuracy, quality of the surface/sub-surface, and
mechanical properties of the sintered printlets vary with variations
in these process parameters, as reported by others [1,6,7,15]. The
results are discussed in detail in the following section.
3.1.1. Effect of dye concentration on sintering
The laser beam was the source of thermal energy in the SLS-3D
printer. For the particles to sinter and form junctions, they must
absorb the same wavelength of light as the laser in the printer. Ini-
tially, the sintering ability of KIR was analysed using an SLS-3D
printer comprising an IR/red-diode laser. During this experiment, the
feed bed temperature was maintained at 90 °C, the print bed temper-
ature was 110 °C [10], and the laser power ratio was set to 1.0. How-
ever, we found that KIR alone (D1) was unable to absorb a sufficient
laser beam at a wavelength of 808 nm, which was required to sinter
the printlets because of the zero availability of the IR-absorbing dye
(0.00% w/w). Thus, there was complete failure to be sintered. After
that, we gradually increased the concentration of the IR-absorbing
dye from 0.04 to 1.25%w/w in the polymer powder blend with dye
by keeping the feed bed temperature at 90 °C, print bed temperature
at 110 °C, and keeping the laser power ratio constant, as displayed in
Table 1. The IR-absorbing dye acted as a laser-absorbing enhancer,
with maximum absorption (λmax) between 811 and 830 nm. Materi-
als containing low concentrations of this dye, such as D2−0.04% w/w
and D3−0.60% w/w, were unable to sinter properly owing to the
insufficient concentration of the dye used, which was unable to
absorb the laser effectively and transmit heat throughout the print
bed [6]. In contrast, the compositions containing (D4) 1.25% w/w dye
started sintering the powder materials, resulting in the formation of
poor 3D printlets (Fig. 2). However, this investigation indicates that a
1.25% w/w concentration of dye is sufficient to sinter the KIR bed
feedstock, as 1.25% w/w concentration of dye exhibited a sintering
effect on the powdered feedstock with poor sintering effects. There-
fore, to improve proper sintering and to obtain well-formed 3D print-
lets, we further checked the effect of print and feed bed temperature
on sintering by varying both platform temperatures.
3.1.2. Effect of printing bed temperatures on sintering
During the SLS process, polymer layers deposit on each other one
after another, which is well known by the term “layer by layer” depo-
sition. Polymer particles must completely coalesce at the top of the
powder layer and adhere to previously sintered layers. This implies
that crystallisation should be inhibited in at least a few sintered
layers in the case of semicrystalline polymers used in SLS processing.
Thus, the bed temperatures must be precisely controlled between
Table 2
Temperature variations while assessing sinterability of PMs at different feed and print bed temperatures.
Temperature Code KIR(% W/W) Dye(% W/W) Feed bed temperature ( °C)
T1 98.75 1.25 100
T2 98.75 1.25 110
T3 98.75 1.25 120
T4 98.75 1.25 130
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Annals of 3D Printed Medicine 6 (2022) 100054
Print bed temperature ( °C) Laser power ratio Sintering Performance
110 1.0 Non-sintered
110 1.0
110 1.0
110 1.0 Sintered
the melting and crystallisation temperatures of a particular polymer.
In thermodynamic terms, this region of the undercooled polymer
melt is referred to as a "sintering window" of the SLS process of the
selected polymer [16,17,18]. In addition, a sufficient temperature dif-
ference between the print bed and feed bed is required. A feed bed
temperature close to or greater than the print bed temperature can
lead to agglomeration and fusion of the blend in the feed bed, which
is not the desired phenomenon and can lead to print failure [12].
Thus, for all formulations, the temperature of the feed bed was main-
tained at 20 °C differnce, which was less than the temperature of the
print bed [4,9,10].
During this study, a fixed KIR (98.75% w/w), dye concentration
(1.25% w/w), and laser power (1.0) were kept constant, as discussed
in Section 3.1.1, as shown in Table 2, but the printing temperatures
(both the feed bed and print bed temperatures) were varied. Here,
we assessed the sintering ability of different printing bed tempera-
tures to sinter 3D printlets ranging from to 100−130 °C as the feed
bed temperature and 120−150 °C as the print bed temperature.
These temperature ranges were selected on the basis of the KIR sin-
tering window.
In the case of sintered prototypes such as code D4, T1-T3 (except
T4), we found that the obtained 3D printlets exhibited low mechani-
cal strength, which may be due to less consolidation and high inter-
particulate void volume (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3). In addition, it was difficult
to remove these printlets from the unsintered feedstock material in
their intact form. These observations suggest that the low range of
printing temperatures results in insufficient heating of the feedstock
material, which ultimately affects the sinterability of the printlets
[15]. The 3D printlets obtained were not properly shaped and were
distorted. This may be the result of premature crystallisation owing
to the closeness of the bed temperatures with the crystallisation tem-
perature [18]. These temperature-dependant code-based prototypes
exhibited either poor or moderate sintering (Table 2 and Fig. 3).
Interestingly, in the case of T4, we observed that the obtained print-
lets had good mechanical strength, a smooth surface, and well-
formed 3D printlets, indicating the absence of any unsintered powder
on their surface, with a decent compact structure due to low inter-
particulate void volume and desired shape without exhibiting any
tableting defects. From the obtained results, formulation T4 can be
considered as having the optimum printing temperature within the
sintering window of KIR. These results indicate that the printing tem-
perature is a crucial parameter that determines whether the feed-
stock will sinter the printlets with desired characteristics or generate
breakable printlets with poor mechanical strength and tablets cov-
ered with loose unsintered powder particles [7]. These observations
suggest that optimum printing temperatures are required for proper
sintering of the printlets. Therefore, a feed bed temperature of 130 °C
and print bed temperature of 150 °C, keeping the laser power ratio
Print bed temperature ( °C) Laser power ratio Sintering Performance
120 1.0 Poor
130 1.0 Moderate
140 1.0 Moderate
150 1.0 Good
S. Lekurwale, T. Karanwad and S. Banerjee
Fig. 2. Assessing sinterability of PMs at different dye concentrations.
(1.0) constant, T4 provided good quality sintered printlets, as dis-
played in Fig. 3.
3.2. Physical dimensions and weight variations
The physical dimension data in terms of the diameter and thick-
ness (in mm) of the sintered 3D printlets are shown in Table 3, which
indicates that the obtained values were reproducible, insignificantly
variable, and in agreement with the given virtual CAD dimensions of
the prototype. In the case of sintered printlets, such as code D4, T1-T3
(except T4), we found that the obtained 3D printlets lacked dimen-
sional accuracy with reference to the CAD structure of the tablet.
These all 3D printlets showed less average diameter (e.g., 8.06§
0.25 mm, 8.60§0.36 mm, 8.19§0.42 mm, and 8.68§0.24 mm) com-
pared to given CAD sketching, which may be due to the shrinkage of
materials. SLS-mediated 3D printlets exhibit a reduction in standard
dimensions owing to the shrinkage phenomenon, which is the
reported result of changes in printing temperature, other process
parameters, and crystallisation. The shrinkage resulting from the
change in printing temperature is insignificant compared to the
shrinkage and resultant change in dimensions due to crystallisation.
The main cause of shrinkage is crystallisation owing to the rearrange-
ment of the chains into a structure with a lower volume [19]. In the
case of T4, we finally observed that the obtained printlets were
4
Annals of 3D Printed Medicine 6 (2022) 100054
showing the highest mean dimensional accuracy (9.31§0.30 mm
diameter and 3.56§0.04 mm thickness) with reference to provided
CAD dimensions. Weight variation tests (in mg) were also performed
on the sintered 3D printlets, where it (Table 3) showed that the
mean variation was less than §4.56, which suggests that the
SLS-based 3D printer uniformly produces almost fixed weight 3D
printlets.
3.3. Thermal analysis
The DSC thermograms of pure dye and pure KIR showed endo-
thermic peak at 225.64 °C and 211.98 °C, respectively [20] (Fig. 4a
and Fig. 4b). The DSC thermogram of the PMs showed the character-
istic peak of KIR at 212.84 °C (Fig. 4c) with a very mild endothermic
shift. However, the characteristic peak of the dye was completely
absent in the PMs, which could be attributed to the uniform homoge-
neous dispersion of the dye. Furthermore, a broad endotherm before
100 °C was observed for all samples, which may indicates that the
loss of water as KIR is hygroscopic in nature. Finally, based on the
above results, we noted that pure KIR and pure dye did not exhibit
any significant physical/thermal interactions. On the other hand, the
DSC thermograms of all the sintered printlets at the different printing
temperatures ranging between 110 °C-150 °C, which contained 1.25%
dye concentration, showed no significant thermal interactions
S. Lekurwale, T. Karanwad and S. Banerjee Annals of 3D Printed Medicine 6 (2022) 100054

Fig. 3. Assessing sinterability of PMs at different printing temperature variations.

(Fig. 4d-4h) except for the characteristic peaks of KIR due to its pres-
ence in high concentrations (98.75% w/w). Based on these thermo-
grams, we found that the melting endotherms of sintered printlets at
different temperatures were observed in the range between 209.88 °
C and 213.33 °C, which indicated the characteristic peak of KIR, as
mentioned above. Surprisingly, the characteristic peak of pure dye
was totally absent in the other materials, including PMs (Fig. 4c-4h),
which might be due to either the low concentration or uniform
homogeneous dispersion of pure dye in the sintered materials.
Hence, no physical or thermal interactions are observed in the

5
S. Lekurwale, T. Karanwad and S. Banerjee Annals of 3D Printed Medicine 6 (2022) 100054

Table 3 and dye (Fig. 5c). Hence, these observations indicate no chemical
Physical dimensions and weight variation values of sintered 3D printlets. interactions between KIR and the pure dye before and during the sin-
Dye and Temperature Code Diameter(mm) Thickness(mm) Weight(mg) tering process. Based on a functional group analysis study, we found
that a 5.0 W infrared laser with a wavelength of 808 nm is compatible
D4 8.06 § 0.25 3.03 § 0.21 69.56 § 3.02
with the sintering of printlets. In addition, this study suggested that a
T1 8.60 § 0.36 3.27 § 0.15 67.63 § 2.80
T2 8.19 § 0.42 3.43 § 0.14 77.30 § 1.94 broad range of printing temperatures (110 °C 150 °C) did not lead to
T3 8.68 § 0.24 3.49 § 0.05 77.93 § 3.64 chemical degradation of the sintered printlets.
T4 9.31 § 0.30 3.56 § 0.04 77.45 § 4.56

sintered printlets. Based on the overall thermal analysis study, we
observed that the characteristic endothermic peak of KIR was
observed in a similar temperature range in the case of sintered print-
lets using different printing temperatures. This indicates that KIR and
pure dyes are compatible. Furthermore, the thermal analysis study
also revealed that KIR and pure dye were not degraded owing to the
varied printing temperatures. In addition, we also found that the 5 W
infrared laser with an 808 nm wavelength was compatible with the
sintering of printlets.
3.4. Functional group analysis
The FTIR spectra of pure KIR (Fig. 5a) showed characteristic peaks
at 1082 cm1 and a strong broad peak at 3280 cm1 due to CO
stretching of the aliphatic ether group and OH stretching of the ali-
phatic alcoholic group present in the KIR structure. FTIR Spectra of
pure dye (Fig. 5b) showed a characteristic peak at 804.06 cm1 due to
CCl stretch, 1337.49 cm1 due to the CN stretch of the aromatic
amine 1378.01 cm1 due to S = O stretch of sulfur trioxide group. The
FTIR spectra of PMs showed an additive spectrum comprising the char-
acteristic peaks of the major components of both KIR and dye (Fig. 5c).
The FTIR spectra of the sintered printlets at various printing tempera-
tures, as shown in Fig. 5d-5h, were similar to those of the PMs of KIR
Conclusions
Based on a comprehensive study considering weight variation,
dimensional accuracy, and thermal and functional group investiga-
tion as powerful tools to determine the sintering effects, we observed
that optimum process parameters are required for sintering of print-
lets with the desired characteristics. The concentration of the dye
was crucial for the sintering of the printlets because the low concen-
tration of dye in the feedstock was unable to sinter the printlets.
Another process parameter, printing temperature (both feed bed and
print bed temperature), plays a significant role in the sintering pro-
cess required for the SLS-mediated 3D printing process. In addition,
temperature affected the sinterability of the 3D printlets. Thermal
and functional group analysis confirmed the absence of physical,
chemical, and thermal interactions and degradation of the KIR and
dye owing to the intense printing temperatures. Based on these
observations, we concluded that a 5.0 W infrared laser (IR) with a
wavelength of 808 nm could sinter high-quality printlets at a fixed
dye concentration with optimum printing temperatures. The limita-
tion of this study is the requirement of a bulk amount of feedstock for
the sintering of solid oral dosage forms. To overcome this limitation,
the same material may be recycled for continuous batch processing.
Along with the few process parameters explored in this study, varia-
tions in other process parameters are possible, including laser power

Fig. 4. Thermal analysis of (a) dye, (b) KIR, (c) PMs, (d) D4, (e-h) T1-T4.

6
S. Lekurwale, T. Karanwad and S. Banerjee
Fig. 5. Functional group analysis of (a) KIR, (b) dye, (c) PMs, (d) D4, (e-h) T1-T4.
which is considered as one of the important parameter for sintering.
Our future perspective will focus on exploring such parameters to
understand the cumulative effect of different parameters on sinter-
ability and printlet quality. Once the effect of all process parameters
is known along with the optimum values required for sintering the
prototypes of desired characteristics, we may incorporate any stable
drug at a particular laser wavelength and printing temperature for
the fabrication of 3D printed solid oral dosage forms. This can lead to
next-generation translational advanced 3D printed customized medi-
cine which can revolutionise the pharmaceutical industry.
Author contributions
SL and TK: Data curation, formal analysis, investigation, method-
ology, validation, visualisation, and writing of the original draft. SB:
Project administration, conceptualisation, supervision, writing,
review, and editing.
Disclosure
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
Declaration of Competing Interests
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work is funded by the Science and Technology (S&T) Division,
Assam Science Technology and Environment (ASTE) Council of the
Department of Science, Technology, and Climate Change,
7
Annals of 3D Printed Medicine 6 (2022) 100054
Government of Assam under the “Students’ Science Project” scheme
with sanctioned file number ASTEC/206/2020-21/2514.
Supplementary materials
Supplementary material associated with this article can be found,
in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.stlm.2022.100054.
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