Applications of AM Processes
Digital Manufacturing
personalised fabrication
Biomedical
moulds and tooling
rapid prototyping of products and components
manufacture of aerospace and automotive components
wire deposition
powder bed
powder bed
wire deposition
FDM.
LS process
FDM
FDM
LS
FDM
The most widely used biomedical applications of additive manufacturing includes fabrication of tissue and organ; anatomical models, development of customized prosthetics and implants, development in pharmaceutical field especially in drug dosage forms, discovery and delivery etc.
FDM prints are ideal for functional prototypes, form-fit tests and end-use parts.
Dental
Based on technology, the dental 3D printing market is segmented into VAT photopolymerization, fused deposition modeling, selective laser sintering, PolyJet printing, and other technologies. The fused deposition modeling segment is projected to register the highest growth rate in the dental 3D printing market, by technology during the forecast period. In dentistry, FDM is a widely applied technology due to the availability of a wide range of biocompatible, strong, and sterilizable thermoplastics. The ability of the FDM machine to use several materials simultaneously makes it useful for printing removable dentures and prosthetics. Moreover, low machine and material prices also support their adoption.
What is rapid prototyping: Rapid prototyping is the fast fabrication of a physical part, model or assembly using 3D computer aided design (CAD). The creation of the part, model or assembly is usually completed using additive manufacturing, or more commonly known as 3D printing.
This inexpensive, easy-to-use process can be found in most non-industrial desktop 3D printers. It uses a spool of thermoplastic filament which is melted inside a printing nozzle barrel before the resulting liquid plastic is laid down layer-by-layer according to a computer deposition program. While the early results generally had poor resolution and were weak, this process is improving rapidly and is fast and cheap, making it ideal for product development.
The SLS process can be used to produce parts that closely mimic the properties of finished parts, particularly where high degrees of accuracy are required.
This high level of accuracy makes SLS an ideal choice for all stages of the production process from concept model through to presentation and testing models.
FDM 3D printing is a technology that works both horizontally and vertically, where an extrusion nozzle moves over a build platform. The process involves the use of thermoplastic material that reaches melting point and is then forced out, to create a 3D object layer by layer.
End use parts for automotive, aerospace and other industries- gaining increasing traction among high-end automotive manufacturers (3D printed brake calipers), but also increasingly part of the conversation for mass production. In aerospace, UAVs are an area of particular interest for plastics manufacturers, while applications for commercial and military planes are growing within the metals arena.
Metal additive manufacturing (AM) utilizing the established powder bed fusion (PBF) process opens up a wealth of opportunities for many industrial high value applications where complex geometries and low/medium volumes are high on the priority list. The advantages of implementing metal AM for such applications include significant cost and time efficiencies, as well as application-specific benefits including light-weighting, reduced material consumption, the ability to consolidate assemblies with intricate geometries that can improve part/component functionality.
Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is one of the methods used in 3D printing. This technique is one of the manufacturing methods under the additive manufacturing engineering class, gaining popularity among researchers and industry to study and develop. Additive manufacturing techniques can create various complex shapes and structures while properly managing materials, resulting in less waste and various other advantages over conventional manufacturing, making it increasingly popular [1,2,3]. Technically, the FDM technique has the same role as injection molding in the manufacturing aspect. For example, mass customisation. It means producing a series of personalised items, so that each product can be different while maintaining low prices due to mass production. It does not need the additional costs of making molds and tools for customised products
Wire-feed additive manufacturing (AM) is a promising alternative to traditional subtractive manufacturing for fabricating large expensive metal components with complex geometry. The current research focus on wire-feed AM is trying to produce complex-shaped functional metal components with good geometry accuracy, surface finish and material property to meet the demanding requirements from aerospace, automotive and rapid tooling industry.
LS production parts can be strong, water and air-tight and made out of engineering-grade thermoplastics.
LS technology will get your products in front of target markets right away. Our advanced manufacturing services help you to create custom, complex production parts in low volumes faster than traditional tooling and molding.
Wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) has proven that it can produce medium to large components because of its high-rate deposition and potentially unlimited build size. Like all additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, however, an optimized process planning that provides uniform, defect-free deposition is key for the production of parts