Metal Powder Finds Its Application in 3D Printing
3D printing is fast gaining popularity and how! Engineers from Northwestern University in the US have now devised a quick and inexpensive method to print 3D objects using metal powders and rust. This new technique can potentially find applications in creating fuel cells, medical implants, batteries and parts for aeronautical equipments, to name a few.
The existing manufacturing methods make use of expensive beams, lasers and large metal powder beds, resulting in an expensive and time-consuming process. All this is set to change with the Northwestern team’s latest innovation, which replaces old methods with liquid inks and common furnaces, leading to a more efficient and cheaper process. This method is suitable for a host of metals, alloys, compounds, metal mixtures et al, giving it an edge over conventional manufacturing processes, which are limited in their applications and architecture.
Source: 3ders
The liquid ink used for the printing process is made of solvents, metal powders and elastomer binders, a combination which enables it to produce densely packed metallic structures with the help of a syringe-extrusion process. While the process starts out with liquid ink, the extrusion helps the material solidify instantaneously and fuse with material created earlier, thus allowing for even large objects to be created in a short span of time. The creators then fuse the metal powders by heating the structures up in a furnace.
On the first go, this may seem like a complicated process that works only after uncoupling sintering and printing, but the fact remains that the separation of the different steps in the process makes the whole process a lot easier. Adding an extra step here is helpful in the sense that it allows for a higher printing speed and structural integrity.
The team remains confident of the fact that this innovation will, in the near future, be able to 3D print full, foldable metallic sheets.
Regardless of which 3D printing process you use, it is imperative that you feed your 3D printer a computer file containing a 3D model created with 3D software. The question is, where do you get such a model made. The answer is, with us, TMG! We have created thousands of models. Message us from the form at right to ask for our low prices and short delivery schedules.
To the 3D printing of your dreams,
