Printers that use FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) are becoming more popular. They are useful for rapid prototyping.
The 3D Printing Handbook: Technologies, design and applications by Ben Redwood (Author), Filemon Schöffer (Author), Brian Garret (Author)
The book mentioned above is a good read. If you are new to 3d printing and want to learn about the 3d printing and its industry, it comes very handy. I have researched it and wrote the following from that book above.
The majority of 3D printing materials consist of polymers and metals
When it comes to applications, polymers, which include plastics, are diverse. It is present in biomedical device adhesives.
The polymer industry is greater than the combined steel, copper, and aluminium sectors.
Polymers come in three different forms: filament, powder, and resin.
The two categories that belong to the Polymer group are thermoplastics and thermosets
Thermoplastics can be melted and solidified repeatedly while retaining their qualities.
The FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) printing method and conventional injection molding both use thermoplastics.
By extruding or injecting solid thermoplastic. Into a die or onto a construction platform after heating it to a pliable condition. Where it then becomes solid.
Thermoplastic goods include LEGO bricks, food packaging, and plastic bottles.
Exotic filaments include PLA that has metal or wood fillings.
The printing substance is melted during FDM printing. Then extruded through a nozzle. Layers of the material are spread out till the product is finished printing.
The most popular method of material extrusion is Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) or Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM)
The printer is loaded with a spool of filament, which is then passed through to the extrusion head. A motor pushes the filament through the heated nozzle. Melting it, after the printer achieves the desired temperature.
After that, the printer rotates the extrusion head. To lay down the melted material, where it cools and solidifies.
The build platform descends and then repeats the layer-by-layer construction of the part. This is similar to a highly accurate hot-glue gun.
The most common filament sizes available on the market are 1.75 mm and 3 mm.
The materials with the lowest costs include FFF filaments which 3D printing uses. PEEK (Polyether Ether Ketone) might be pricey despite having a good performance.
A wide variety of colors are available in filaments.
Although thermoplastics have higher engineering qualities, they are more challenging to print. It’s because heating a flexible condition demands a higher temperature.
When temperatures are higher, warping can occur. Or when pieces cool more throughout the printing process, deformation may occur. This causes internal strains to increase in intensity.
The most popular FFF materials include:
ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene)
PLA (Polylactic Acid)
Nylon (PA) – Polyamide-12, abbreviated PA-12
PETG (Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol)
TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane)
PEI ( Polyether Imide)
Easy to print materials include ABS and PLA. Although manufactured using industrial machinery, PEEK and PEI are great engineering materials. It gives the print environment more control.
FFF is a very cost competitive means of making custom thermoplastic parts. It’s because of low cost materials and machinery. It is also simpler to use.
Also, FFF has the largest global installation of 3D printers that the public is exposed to. FFF is the most popular option for quick prototyping, practical applications, and non-commercial use.
The fundamental restrictions of FFF are around the anisotropic nature of parts.
Parts produced by layer-by-layer FFF printing are weaker in one direction.
How an item is orientated throughout the printing process has an impact on how strong it will be in each direction.
A designer must comprehend the part’s intended use. Also, how the build strategy will affect performance.
Higher levels of infills is a game changer when it comes to a stronger part. The cost and build time go up, though.
If a smoother surface quality is needed, FFF pieces need some sort of post processing. It’s because they are likely to have visible layer lines. That is as a result of printing layers at a time.
I also have also researched and wrote the following below from the websites, which are written in numbers and inside the brackets.
According to its composition, polymer filament is split into two types
Which are mostly composite filament and pure polymer filament. The pure polymer filament is created from a polymer compound without the use of additional solutions. [ 1 ]
Pure ployment filaments vary widely in terms of both mechanical and intrinsic properties. Despite this, there are situations when the inherent qualities of pure polymers cannot meet the requirement for mechanical properties for particular goods. [ 1 ]
As a result, researches and industries continue to create polymer filaments. That is useful for industrial applications. The mechanical qualities of a filament are improved by adding additives to the filament composition. [ 1 ]
These are the filaments which are commonly used in the development and 3D printing processes: [ 1 ]
PLA – Polylactic Acid
ABS – Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene
PP – Polypropylene
Additives are present in filaments to modify their physical characteristics
The most popular additives include dyes, plasticizers, stabilizers, wood, metal, and carbon allotropes. [ 2 ]
Unreacted monomers and other polymerization reactants can be found in large quantities in filaments. The majority of these additives have the capacity to transform into volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or to affect the creation of VOCs. [ 2 ]
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are added to 3D printer filaments to boost their conductivity. To make manufactured objects less susceptible to electrostatic discharge. [ 2 ]
Moreover, they are included to give specific things structural stability. Metal particles are incorporated into 3D printer filaments for both aesthetic and practical reasons. [ 2 ]
Certain items created using these filaments can be sintered to remove the polymer matrix. Also, to create fully metallic items that outperform polymer products structurally. They may also be colored metallically. [ 2 ]
Although ABS/metal filaments have been spotted on the market. Metal-containing filaments mainly use PLA as their polymer matrix. At the temperatures normally seen in a 3D printer, transition metals, especially copper and iron, can catalyze the thermal degradation of organic molecules. [ 2 ]
