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The material selection platform
Plastics & Elastomers
The material selection platform
Plastics & Elastomers
3D Printing Ball

Unstoppable Industries Using Additive Manufacturing

3D printing plastic materials find their major use in prototyping parts, molds/tools, or manufacture of standard, straight forward fixtures and jigs. 3D Printing is increasingly allowing allowing plastic raw material suppliers who are increasing their focus here, the potential of a novel market development route into traditional end uses. Explore some of the top applications benefiting most from 3D Printing.

Overview

Key Applications

The development of innovative, advanced additive manufacturing technologies has progressed quickly yielding broader and high value applications. This accelerating trend has been due to the benefits of additive manufacturing compared to more conventional manufacturing processes. Some of these benefits are:
  1. Lower energy consumption
  2. Less waste
  3. Less dedicated tooling
  4. Reduced development costs and time to market
  5. Innovative designs and geometries
  6. Part consolidation (fewer parts with more complex design)
  7. Customization of parts (e.g., for medical implants, specialty repair parts, parts where other manufacturing facilities are not available such as on ships or in space.

The industries that will benefit most in the immediate future from additive manufacturing and the value provided are:

Aerospace and Defense

  • Concept modeling and prototyping
  • Manufacturing low-volume complex parts (electronics, engine parts, etc.)
  • Manufacturing replacement parts anywhere
  • Manufacturing structures using lightweight, high strength materials
Select from 100+ 3D printing grades used in aerospace industry

Automotive

  • Testing part design to verify correctness and completeness
  • Parts for race vehicles, luxury sports cars, antique cars, etc.
  • Replacement of parts that are defective or cannot be purchased
  • Manufacturing structures using lightweight, high strength materials
Select from 200+ 3D printing grades used in automotive industry

Electronics

  • Embedding Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices embedded inside solid materials
  • Short lead time electronic products
  • Polymer based, three-dimensional micro-electromechanical systems
  • Microwave circuits fabricated on paper substrates
Select from 100+ 3D printing grades used in electronics

Tool and Mold Making

  • Universal tool holders with standardized pocket sizes
  • Die casting forms
  • Injection molding tooling
  • Tooling for prototyping of short lead time surgical devices

Medical

  • Design and modeling methods for customized implants and medical devices
  • Processes for fabrication of “smart scaffolds” and for construction of 3D biological and tissue models
Select from 100+ 3D printing grades used in medical industry

As is the case with any newly developing industry, adequate information and its dissemination to the material and machine suppliers and end-users are paramount. Especially needed in the additive manufacturing industry is the:
  1. Development of a shared, standardized third-party data repository that contains material property data that leads to the proper choice of materials and
  2. Standards and protocol for part manufacture independent of region or time and standards for material and part testing.

3D Printer Plastic filament for 3D printer and printed products
3D printer based on FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) or FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) suitable for printing functional and mechanical parts and prototypes
3D printer printing a model - progressive modern additive technology

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2 Comments on "How to Select Polymers for 3D Printing?"
GOURDON B Jan 6, 2023
C'est une excellente revue sur les techniques de FABRICATION ADDITIVE . C'est clair avec de bonnes explications MERCI pour toute cette synthèse Bernard GOURDON
RAMACHANDRAN N Jan 23, 2019
A treasure for AM enthusiasts Being an academician, I find this very useful for a beginner. The online course will surely benefit the aspirants and those in the field of AM / 3D printing

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