3D printing is becoming a new way for manufacturing. As oppose to regular manufacturing (subtractive), where the machine cut out pieces of a raw material in order to shape the material to its final shape, in an additive manufacturing the machine adds layer of material and creates the final model.
Additive process has many advantages over the subtractive one. Creating a part with 3D printing is much cheaper, makes less waste, faster and the result is even more accurate1. The most revolutionized advantage is the ability to create new complex geometries, printing with more than one color, and printing a moving mechanism. Designers describe 3D printing as having almost limitless freedom to create anything2. All of these advantages enable the production of lightweight optimized components that are impossible to make with traditional manufacturing.
Additive manufacturing techniques can be divided into two groups, extrusion and granular materials binding. The main difference is not only in the way that a model is created, but also in the materials that are used to create it.
Extrusion method uses a plastic film that is being fed to the printers head. The printer head melts the plastic film and extrudes thin layers of the thermoplastic material. Extrusion printers are able to use more than one plastic film, therefore makes is possible to print more than one color.
In the granular materials binding there 's a tank with metal powder inside an oven that is heated to 100c below the melting point of the metal2. A blade mounted on a moving arm sweeps an even layer of the powder on top of the work surface inside the chamber, then a laser - scans back and forth over the surface, melting the powder in the shape of the first layer. The work surface then drops by the thickness of the layer and another layer of powder is distributed over the surface2.
The 3D printing technology opens the floodgates to a vast range of applications, from customized automotive and
Bibliography: 1. Arthue, C. (2013). Is 3D printing about to hit the mainstream? The Gardian. 2. Bird, J. (2010). Exploring the 3D printing opportunity. The Financial Times. 3. Jon Excell, s. N. (2010). The rise of additive manufacturing. The engineer.