Most of us have heard about 3-D Printing in many situations of our life. We know that a 3-D Printer produces a 3-D object, but how many of us know what exactly happens in the background? If you are keen to know check this out.
As a part of learning let us know what exactly is 3-D printing and when it was evolved before going into the working of it.
3-D printing is previously referred to as Additive Manufacturing(AM). AM is the means of creating an object by adding material to the object layer by layer. AM has various names like Stereolithography, 3-D Layering and 3-D printing. AM was used for rapid prototyping in manufacturing industries to create prototypes of the actual product.
3-D Printing came into existence in early 1980's. In 1981, Hideo Kodama of Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute invented two AM fabricating methods of a three-dimensional plastic model with photo-hardening polymer, where the UV exposure area is controlled by a mask pattern or the scanning fiber transmitter. Then in 1984, Chuck Hull of 3D Systems Corporation, developed a prototype system based on this process known as stereolithography, in which layers are added by curing photopolymers with ultraviolet light lasers. Hull's contribution is the design of STL file format widely accepted by 3-D printing software as well as the digital slicing and infill strategies common to many processes today.
Let us know what kind of processes are there in 3-D Printing.
1) Direct 3-D Printing
In Direct 3-D printing we have thick waxes and plastic polymers which are extruded (dispensed) from the nozzle to print the object. These printers use inkjet technology. The nozzle can move back and forth to make a layer, it moves up and down to make layer over layer. Once a layer is made the wax or polymer solidfy to form a firm cross-section of the object. Rapid prototyping has been major factor for growth of direct 3-D printing. Rapid prototyping products use technologies such as multi-jet modeling (MJM), which creates wax prototypes quickly with dozens of nozzles
2) Binder 3-D Printing
The Binder printing uses two separate materials that come together to form each printed layer: a fine dry powder plus a liquid glue, or binder. Binder 3-D printers make two passes to form each layer. The first pass rolls out a thin coating of the powder, and the second pass uses the nozzles to apply the binder. The building platform then lowers slightly to accommodate a new layer of powder, and the entire process repeats until the model is finished. This method can incorporate a wider variety of materials in the process, including metals and ceramics, as well as color.
Photopolymerization is a 3-D printing technology whereby drops of a liquid plastic are exposed to a laser beam of ultraviolet light. During this exposure, the light converts the liquid into a solid. Stereolithography Apparatus(SLA) uses photopolymerization, directing a laser across a vat of liquid plastic called photopolymer. As with inkjet 3-D printing, the SLA repeats this process layer by layer until the print is finished.
Selective Laser Sintering is an Additive manufacturing process that builds three dimensional parts by using a laser to selectively sinter (heat and fuse) a powdered material, which then solidifies to form the printed layer.
No matter which approach a 3-D printer uses, the overall printing process is generally the same. In their book "Additive Manufacturing Technologies: Rapid Prototyping to Direct Digital Manufacturing," Ian Gibson, David W. Rosen and Brent Stucker list the following eight steps in the generic AM process:
Step 1: CAD -- Produce a 3-D model using computer-aided design (CAD) software. The software may provide some hint as to the structural integrity you can expect in the finished product, too, using scientific data about certain materials to create virtual simulations of how the object will behave under certain conditions.
Step 2: Conversion to STL -- Convert the CAD drawing to the STL format. STL, which is an acronym for standard tessellation language, is a file format developed for 3D Systems in 1987 for use by its stereolithography apparatus (SLA) machines. Most 3-D printers can use STL files in addition to some proprietary file types such as ZPR by Z Corporation and ObjDF by Objet Geometries.
Step 3: Transfer to AM Machine and STL File Manipulation -- A user copies the STL file to the computer that controls the 3-D printer. There, the user can designate the size and orientation for printing. This is similar to the way you would set up a 2-D printout to print 2-sided or in landscape versus portrait orientation.
Step 4: Machine Setup -- Each machine has its own requirements for how to prepare for a new print job. This includes refilling the polymers, binders and other consumables the printer will use. It also covers adding a tray to serve as a foundation or adding the material to build temporary water-soluble supports.
Step 5: Build -- Let the machine do its thing; the build process is mostly automatic. Each layer is usually about 0.1 mm thick, though it can be much thinner or thicker. Depending on the object's size, the machine and the materials used, this process could take hours or even days to complete. Be sure to check on the machine periodically to make sure there are no errors.
Step 6: Removal -- Remove the printed object (or multiple objects in some cases) from the machine. Be sure to take any safety precautions to avoid injury such as wearing gloves to protect yourself from hot surfaces or toxic chemicals.
Step 7: Postprocessing -- Many 3-D printers will require some amount of post-processing for the printed object. This could include brushing off any remaining powder or bathing the printed object to remove water-soluble supports. The new print may be weak during this step since some materials require time to cure, so caution might be necessary to ensure that it doesn't break or fall apart.
Step 8: Application -- Make use of the newly printed object or objects.
The following video illustrates various applications
References
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