3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making
three dimensional solid objects from a digital file. The creation of a 3D
printed object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process an
object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the entire
object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced
horizontal cross-section of the eventual object.
These seven processes are:
- Vat Photopolymerisation
- Material Jetting
- Binder Jetting
- Material Extrusion
- Powder Bed Fusion
- Sheet Lamination
- Directed Energy Deposition
Vat Photopolymerisation
A 3D printer based on the Vat Photopolymerisation method has
a container filled with photopolymer resin which is then hardened with UV light
source.
Material Jetting
In this process, material is applied in droplets through a
small diameter nozzle, similar to the way a common inkjet paper printer works,
but it is applied layer-by-layer to a build platform making a 3D object and
then hardened by UV light.
Binder Jetting
With binder jetting two materials are used: powder base
material and a liquid binder. In the build chamber, powder is spread in equal
layers and binder is applied through jet nozzles that “glue” the powder
particles in the shape of a programmed 3D object. The finished object is “glued
together” by binder remains in the container with the powder base material.
After the print is finished, the remaining powder is cleaned off and used for
3D printing the next object.
Powder Bed Fusion
This technology uses a high power laser to fuse small
particles of plastic, metal, ceramic or glass powders into a mass that has the
desired three dimensional shape. The laser selectively fuses the powdered
material by scanning the cross-sections (or layers) generated by the 3D
modeling program on the surface of a powder bed. After each cross-section is
scanned, the powder bed is lowered by one layer thickness. Then a new layer of
material is applied on top and the process is repeated until the object is
completed.
Sheet Lamination
Sheet lamination involves material in sheets which is bound
together with external force.
Directed Energy Deposition
This process is mostly used in the high-tech metal industry
and in rapid manufacturing applications.
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