3d Printing Materials: Traditional and Innovative Ones
3d printing is most commonly used in the medical industry. It is helping surgeons to print patient-specific 3d models of various organs or body parts. Newbie doctors can use these models to practice as well as plan surgeries. This can enhance their confidence and accuracy and also save lives.
With the help of materials used in 3 D printing one can produce an article from scratch in few hours. However, it is not just the medical industry that is benefitting from this technology. Different industry verticals such as aerospace components, automobile components, toys, jewellery manufacturing and many other niche sectors are also using this technology. However, materials play a very significant role in reducing the cost and hassle of 3d printing.
3d Printing Materials
There are many materials that can be used in 3d printing. However, using material in such a production process is different from that in traditional manufacturing. 3d Printing Materials are available in the shape and size of nano-size filaments of various colours. You need to feed them to the printer. The printer will melt the material with heat and deposit the molten material on the supporting frame in layers.
Materials Used In 3D Printing
Plastic is the most commonly used material in 3d printing. However, this is not the “everyday” plastic that we use. Moreover, new and innovative materials like bio-based resins made from soybean oil and corn are used to print products. PLA and ABS are two of the most common used in 3d printing materials. These materials are printed in fused deposition technology. Ordinary desktop printers make use of this technology to make products. Such printers melt the raw material and deposit the material in layers.
PLA versus ABS plastic
Though PLA and ABS are commonly used to print products, these two have different properties. In traditional manufacturing ABS is commonly used to produce automobile parts since it is a robust type of plastic that is resistant to impact to a certain extent.
However, in 3d printing, PLA is stronger than ABS. This is simply because PLA, despite being weaker than ABS, derives its strength from the process of 3d printing. Since this material is mostly used to print products using the fused deposition method, the layer by layer deposition process imparts strength in PLA products.
Moreover, PLA is biodegradable as it is made from natural material like sugar cane or corn starch. This means that if you throw it in landfill it can disintegrate in a couple of years. This is good for the environment. However, ABS is not biodegradable. This is why effort should be made to minimise the use of ABS and maximise the use of PLA in 3d printing.
Apart from plastic, metals are now also being used to print 3d objects. However, for producing metal parts a different technique known as Direct Metal Laser Sintering is being used. Many different materials used in 3d printing can be used in this method to produce different objects. However, this method is usually employed to produce prototypes.
The aviation industry is making use of DMLS printing technique to manufacture various airplane parts. These printers are also used for producing jewellery.