Available additive manufacturing materials for production

       


What is additive manufacturing?

Additive Manufacturing (AM),known as 3D printing, combines computer-aided design, material processing and molding technology, based on digital model files, and uses specialized metal materials, non-metallic materials, and medical biomaterials through software and numerical control systems.According to extrusion, sintering, melting, photo-curing, spraying, etc.,layer by layer, to create a manufacturing technology for physical objects. Compared with the traditional processing mode of raw material removal-cutting and assembly, it is a kind of "bottom-up" manufacturing method by material accumulation, from scratch. This has made it possible to manufacture complex structural parts that were previously constrained by traditional manufacturing methods and that could not be realized.



Additive manufacturing of metal materials

Early additive manufacturing techniques were primarily prototyped for rapid response to product designs, including resins and plastics. As the market demand continues to increase, additive manufacturing technology can not only meet the appearance requirements, but must also gradually shift to the manufacturing functional parts, thereby increasing the research on metal materials.

1. Titanium alloy
Titanium alloy has the characteristics of high strength, good corrosion resistance and excellent high temperature mechanical properties. It is the strongest and lightest material in 3D printing. It is used in a process called direct metal laser sintering. This metal is mainly used in high-tech fields such as space exploration, aviation and medical fields. However, high processing costs and long lead times limit the scope of application. In particular, the aerospace and biomedical fields with customized requirements highlight the drawbacks of traditional processing methods. Titanium alloy is the first alloy material to be widely studied and applied in additive manufacturing technology.

Main features:
It provides greater complexity and resolution in the design.
It provides precise design for industrial designers.
It has average surface roughness.
Titanium is also biocompatible and corrosion resistant.

2. Steel
Steel is the largest branch of alloy material. The diversity of steel composition, morphology and preparation process has made it an extraordinary place in traditional manufacturing. In the history of additive manufacturing technology, steel is also an important material widely used in forming research, and can be subdivided into three categories: stainless steel, high-strength steel and die steel. 304 and 316 austenitic stainless steel powders (and their low carbon steel grades) are the first stainless steel materials developed for laser forming research and are now the typical processing materials in the additive manufacturing market due to the strength and detail of stainless steel. Important, so it is ideal for miniature models, bolts and key chains.
Main features:
Steel can be heat treated to increase strength and hardness.
It has good high strength applications.
High corrosion resistance.
Highly malleable.



3. Aluminum alloy
Aluminum alloy has low melting point, relatively small temperature gradient in the rapid melting process, and the formed parts are not easy to deform and crack, which is generally applicable to SLS and SLM processes.When aluminum is used, the fine details can be up to 25 microns and the wall thickness can be up to 50 microns.Parts usually have a textured matt surface that distinguishes them from conventional milling aluminum parts.Because of its light weight, 3d-printed aluminum is used in car and racing parts.
Main features:
Excellent physical, chemical and mechanical properties.
It has good corrosion resistance.
High toughness, no deformation after processing.

Additive manufacturing of polymer materials

 Polymer materials are the materials with the largest amount, the widest application range and the most molding methods in additive manufacturing materials, mainly including polymer silk materials, photosensitive resin and polymer powder.

1.      ABS
Polymer wire is mainly suitable for FDM technology. Currently, it mainly includes PLA, ABS, PC, PPSF, PETG, etc.ABS is the most commonly used thermoplastic engineering plastics in FDM due to its excellent insulation, corrosion resistance and low temperature resistance.ABS has the advantages of easy surface coloring, high impact resistance, high strength and good toughness.To create a 3D printed object using ABS, the filament must be heated to a relatively high temperature of 230-250 c. The high melting point of ABS makes the object relatively warped and crack resistant.This makes ABS an ideal choice for making certain cases and other end-use components.ABS is also used for rapid machining and creating conceptual models.But there are some shortcomings: the products are easy to shrink deformation, surface prone to layer peeling and warping phenomenon.


2. Photosensitive resin
Photosensitive resin is a kind of polymer material which can be cured by uv irradiation at a certain wavelength.In recent years, additive manufacturing technology is booming, and photosensitive resin is gradually entering the mass market.Photosensitive resin has been widely used in SLA, DLP, 3DP and other forming technologies.Compared with the general curing materials, the photosensitive resin has good surface drying performance, the surface of the molding is smooth and clean, the product resolution is high, the detail display is excellent, the quality even exceeds the injection molding products.These outstanding advantages make it the preferred material for high-end and artistic 3D printing products.However, at present, the cost of photosensitive resin is still on the high side, and the mechanical strength, heat resistance and weather resistance are mostly lower than the engineering plastic consumables used in FDM, which affects the application range of materials to a certain extent.

3.Nylon
High molecular powder is widely used in SLS molding due to its low sintering energy, simple sintering process and good prototype quality.SLS molding requires polymer powder to have the characteristics of low agglomeration temperature, shrinking shrinkage, low internal stress, high strength and good fluidity.At present, the common polymer powder is polystyrene, nylon, nylon and glass microsphere mixture, polycarbonate, polypropylene, wax powder and so on.Nylon is a full-density material, the manufactured workpiece has high strength, elasticity and high tolerance, suitable for tight fitting and various functional tests, such as fan housing under high temperature operation test, impact and fall test.It also has the advantages of heat resistance, low friction coefficient and wear resistance.The disadvantage is large water absorption, affect the size stability and electrical properties, fiber reinforced resin can reduce the water absorption rate, so that it can work at high temperature, high humidity.

Concluding Remarks


With the development of additive manufacturing, increasing research and development of raw materials is a topic. Especially in the research and development and application of new materials, according to the characteristics of additive manufacturing, combined with the market application of various requirements, vigorously develop new raw materials, additive manufacturing materials will continue to improve the quality of the development direction.


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