Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Several thermoplastic materials, many of them specially designed are available for FDM,
although PLA and ABS are the main materials being used. The RepRap community uses
the term Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) since Stratasys has trademarked the FDM
term.
Polyjet : (Material Jetting) Polyjet printing is similar to inkjet printing, but instead of jetting
drops of ink onto paper, layers of liquid photopolymer is jetted onto a build tray and cured
with UV light. The Printer also jets a gel-like support material to uphold overhangs. The
support material can be removed by hand or with water. The polyjet process was developed
by Objet, an Israeli company that merged with Stratasys in 2012. Polyjet uses photopoly-
mer material just like stereolithography, however the material qualities might be different
since Objet has developed their own materials. With this process it is possible to mix and
combine several different materials in one object.
Multi-jet modeling: This is another variation of material jetting which was developed by
3D systems.
Multi Jet Fusion: Hewlett-Packard announced their technology in the fall of 2014. This
technology is based on inkjet printer heads or “arrays”. It starts by laying down a layer
of plastic material, then a thermal inkjet array passes from left to right over the material
printing chemical agents. The inkjet arrays have a high number of nozzles per inch and are
capable of printing over 30 million drops per second over each inch of the working area.
Arburg Kunststoff-Freiformen (AKF) (Arburg Plastic Freeforming): (Material Jet-
ting) Arburg is a German company that is an industry leader in injection molding ma-
chinery. In the end of 2013 they launched a new additive manufacturing technology. Their
“Freeformer” machine is based on injection molding technology and is intended for ther-
moplastic materials. The groundbreaking difference with the Arburg technology is that it
is possible to use thermoplastic granules directly just like in injection molding of plastics,
which reduces the cost of material and increases the choice of available materials. In the
AKF process standard plastic granulates are first melted in a plasticizing cylinder as in the
injection molding process. A nozzle with piezo technology builds the part from miniscule
plastic droplets. The discharge unit with nozzle remains stationary, while the component
carrier moves. The component carrier is capable of 5-axis motion.
Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) : (Powder bed fusion) SLS was developed and patented
by Dr. Carl Deckard with assistance from Professor Dr. Joe Beamer from University of
Texas in the latter part of the 1980s. They started DTM Corporation, together with other
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