Analysis of materials commonly used in 3D printing
Hello everyone, I believe that many engineers and art workers have encountered such a problem: After a long time of hard work, the product design is sent to the printer for printing. And money has to re-print materials. Aixi Rapid is here to share with you the characteristics and performance of different materials for 3D printing, so that you can choose materials without errors.
Photosensitive resin: The printing accuracy of this material is the highest, which can generally reach 0.05mm. The surface is also very smooth, suitable for printing appearance parts, and it is also the only choice for 3D printing for mold size verification. Divided into ordinary resin and tough resin. Ordinary resin is white, slightly weak, fragile, and yellow over time, so it is best to do color treatment for appearance parts. The tough resin is generally emerald green or light yellow. Compared with ordinary resins, tough resins have a slightly stronger strength and are not easily broken. It is worth mentioning that: for the structural parts made of resin material, do not tap the threads on it, and do not insert the nuts with a tight fit, which will burst the holes.
PLA: The printing cost of this material is relatively low. If it is used for temporary structural display, the appearance is not high. You can use this material. The material strength is high, and the filling rate in the structure can be easily adjusted during the printing process, so it is easy to achieve light weight. The accuracy is slightly worse. If the parts have a matching relationship, be sure to leave enough clearance to ensure assembly. Generally, the clearance of the shaft hole is at least 0.5mm. When designing, try to avoid the structure from floating, because the suspended structure requires printing support, which will be rough. The material has a deformation temperature of 60 degrees and cannot be used in high temperature environments.
TPU: Soft rubber material, rich in color, can print wheels, shock pads, seals and other parts. Hardness between 80A and 95A. The surface of the printed product is smooth and shiny. After printing out the parts with complex structure, the drawing is serious, and the surface is fuzzy, which makes it difficult to clean. If the surface requirements are very high, you can also do it by copying. First, print the resin prototype, then wrap it with silicone to make the mold, and finally make the TPU part by remolding similarly to the casting method. The process is relatively complicated and the production cost is high. High, good effect, can make complex parts such as watch bands.
ABS: commonly used engineering plastics, which have the characteristics of heat resistance, impact resistance, low temperature resistance, chemical resistance, electrical properties, and product size stability. The heat distortion temperature is 93 ~ 118 ℃, it can still show a certain toughness at -40 ℃, and it can be used in the temperature range of -40 ~ 100 ℃. Suitable for structural parts.
Nylon: The strongest material in non-metallic printing materials is nylon. At present, the best process for printing nylon is SLS laser powder sintering. The molding accuracy is very high, and the strength and toughness of the obtained workpiece are the best. In addition, the nylon material itself is also resistant to high temperature and abrasion, which is suitable for structural skeleton. The surface of the part obtained after laser sintering has its own matte texture, so it is not necessary to do surface treatment.