Abstract
With the possible exception of the MIT Soligen process, all commercial SFF techniques currently produce parts from polymeric or oligomeric hydrocarbon materials. The dominance of polymeric materials, relative to metals and ceramics, is largely a consequence of their ease of processing at relatively modest temperatures, generally less than 400°C. This permits lower-cost energy sources to be employed by the shaping or fabricating technology than are required to directly fabricate with metals and ceramics. In addition, polymeric materials (including inorganic glasses) have low surface energies and high melt viscosities, relative to metals and other high surface energy, inorganic crystalline materials. These features eliminate the tendency seen in the metals for the molten material to minimize its energy by forming spherical droplets that can cause poor surface quality. Polymeric materials are especially advantageous in terms of the relative ease with which their chemical structures and molecular sizes, characteristics which affect their mechanical and rheological properties, can be modified and optimized for each specific SFF technique and need.
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Beaman, J.J., Barlow, J.W., Bourell, D.L., Crawford, R.H., Marcus, H.L., McAlea, K.P. (1997). Polymers in Solid Freeform Fabrication. In: Solid Freeform Fabrication: A New Direction in Manufacturing. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6327-3_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6327-3_4
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