Materials Team
Medical Applications for 3D Printing in Modern Medicine
The medical sector has been a pioneer in adopting 3D printing technology, with the first 3D printed dental implants and custom prosthetics manufactured in the 1990s. Over the years, 3D…
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Top Additive Manufacturing Materials by Industry
Some of the first materials used for 3D printing were photopolymers hardened with UV light, as demonstrated by the Japanese inventor Hideo Kodama in 1981. The range of available additive…
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Using Lattice Structures in Additive Manufacturing Software
Additive manufacturing is increasingly leveraged for enhancing or improving product performance. Lattice structures are one common design technique. A lattice structure is a microarchitecture designed with a network of repeating…
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Hybrid Additive Manufacturing Approaches
Hybrid additive manufacturing combines additive and subtractive manufacturing to produce a finished product. Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, builds structures by adding material in layers. Conversely, subtractive manufacturing, such as…
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What Types of Materials Are Used in 3D Printing?
Many manufacturers’ first exposure to 3D printing was through fused deposition modeling, in which plastic filaments extrude through a nozzle during printing. Materials used in 3D printing were formerly confined to plastics and weak metal alloys that could be extruded at low temperatures. The scope of 3D-printable materials has grown considerably to include various metals, polymers, organic materials, ceramics, and even biological materials.
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