Materials Used In 3d Printing | Image Resource : tctmagazine.com
Although 3d printing has brought in a new era in manufacturing, it is not yet a very popular method of production of items. Needless to say that it is being gradually adopted in various industries and companies. However, the adoption is not as wide as it could have been. One of the main reasons for this is the material used in printing.
Materials Used In 3d Printing
There are various materials which one can use to 3d print various objects according to design. Materials used in 3d printing have to possess some unique properties. Theoretically, it is possible to print products in different material, but practically it is not possible to print objects in each of them.
The most important property of these materials is that they should melt easily. You need molten stuff since 3d printing is all about giving shape to products layer by layer. The basic design is first made on a easily soluble material for 3d printing and then the intended product is printed on it in layers. So that makes is a unique system of production.
Since plastic has the lowest melting point among all the materials used for production of stuff, it is one of the most desired and popular materials used in 3d printing. Even the basic material on which the layers are deposited is made of plastic.
The basic criterion for the base object on which the layers are deposited is that it should easily dissolve in water or some other liquid. In this respect PLA, a form of plastic is the best one. This is the plastic that dissolves even in water. So, after the product is manufactured, it can be immersed in water to dissolve the inner base material. PLA does this beautifully and this is why most 3d printers use PLA as the base material for printing.
However, it is not that manufacturer’s use only plastic for production of items. They also use metals like steel, Titanium, gold and even other materials like gypsum for 3d printing of products. Nevertheless, the melting point of metals is much higher than that of plastic. This increases the cost of production. Despite this in places where you need metal parts, you need to use metals only.
Filaments of Materials
All the materials used in 3d printing need to be fed in a unique form. They are available in the form of filaments. These are nanostructures which are available with suppliers of 3d printing materials. You need to use only these things for manufacturing stuff.
Quality of material
Quality of materials plays a significant part in deciding the outcome of the product. You need to have pure material filaments of the given element, be it plastic, steel, any other metal or gypsum. You can get pure filaments from reputed suppliers only. You just need to make sure that it is a reputed supplier who is supplying the filaments. This will ensure that you get the best outcome in your 3d printer.
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