A Bowden cable is a type of flexible cable used to transmit mechanical force or energy by the movement of an inner cable relative to a hollow outer cable housing. The housing is generally of composite construction, consisting of an inner lining, a longitudinally incompressible layer such as a helical winding or a sheath of steel wire, and a protective outer covering.
Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex cross-sections; and to work materials that are brittle, because the material encounters only compressive and shear stresses. It also creates excellent surface finish and gives considerable freedom of form in the design process.
Thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), sometimes referred to as thermoplastic rubbers (TPR), are a class of copolymers or a physical mix of polymers that consist of materials with both thermoplastic and elastomeric properties.
Plastics extrusion is a high-volume manufacturing process in which raw plastic is melted and formed into a continuous profile. Extrusion produces items such as pipe/tubing, weatherstripping, fencing, deck railings, window frames, plastic films and sheeting, thermoplastic coatings, and wire insulation.
Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) is any of a class of polyurethane plastics with many properties, including elasticity, transparency, and resistance to oil, grease, and abrasion. Technically, they are thermoplastic elastomers consisting of linear segmented block copolymers composed of hard and soft segments.
Three dimensional (3D) bioprinting is the use of 3D printing–like techniques to combine cells, growth factors, bio-inks, and biomaterials to fabricate functional structures that were traditionally used for tissue engineering applications but in recent times have seen increased interest in other applications such as biosensing, and environmental remediation. Generally, 3D bioprinting uses a layer-by-layer method to deposit materials known as bio-inks to create tissue-like structures that are later used in various medical and tissue engineering fields. 3D bioprinting covers a broad range of bioprinting techniques and biomaterials. Currently, bioprinting can be used to print tissue and organ models to help research drugs and potential treatments. Nonetheless, translation of bioprinted living cellular constructs into clinical application is met with several issues due to the complexity and cell number necessary to create functional organs. However, innovations span from bioprinting of extracellular matrix to mixing cells with hydrogels deposited layer by layer to produce the desired tissue. In addition, 3D bioprinting has begun to incorporate the printing of scaffolds which can be used to regenerate joints and ligaments. Apart from these, 3D bioprinting has recently been used in environmental remediation applications, including the fabrication of functional biofilms that host functional microorganisms that can facilitate pollutant removal.
Printrbot is a 3D printer company created by Brook Drumm in 2011 and originally funded through Kickstarter. Printrbot printers use fused deposition modelling to manufacture 3-dimensional artifacts.
Ultimaker is a 3D printer-manufacturing company based in the Netherlands, with offices and assembly lines in the US. They make fused filament fabrication 3D printers, develop 3D printing software, and sell branded 3D printing materials. Their product line includes the Ultimaker S5 and S3, Ultimaker 3 series, Ultimaker 2+ series and Ultimaker Original+. These products are used by industries such as automotive, architecture, healthcare, education, and small scale manufacturing.
M3D, LLC is an American manufacturer of 3D printers in Fulton, Maryland. The company's flagship product is the "Micro 3D" or "Micro".
Robocasting is an additive manufacturing technique analogous to Direct Ink Writing and other extrusion-based 3D-printing techniques in which a filament of a paste-like material is extruded from a small nozzle while the nozzle is moved across a platform. The object is thus built by printing the required shape layer by layer. The technique was first developed in the United States in 1996 as a method to allow geometrically complex ceramic green bodies to be produced by additive manufacturing. In robocasting, a 3D CAD model is divided up into layers in a similar manner to other additive manufacturing techniques. The material is then extruded through a small nozzle as the nozzle's position is controlled, drawing out the shape of each layer of the CAD model. The material exits the nozzle in a liquid-like state but retains its shape immediately, exploiting the rheological property of shear thinning. It is distinct from fused deposition modelling as it does not rely on the solidification or drying to retain its shape after extrusion.
Fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known as fused deposition modeling, or filament freeform fabrication, is a 3D printing process that uses a continuous filament of a thermoplastic material. Filament is fed from a large spool through a moving, heated printer extruder head, and is deposited on the growing work. The print head is moved under computer control to define the printed shape. Usually the head moves in two dimensions to deposit one horizontal plane, or layer, at a time; the work or the print head is then moved vertically by a small amount to begin a new layer. The speed of the extruder head may also be controlled to stop and start deposition and form an interrupted plane without stringing or dribbling between sections. "Fused filament fabrication" was coined by the members of the RepRap project to give an acronym (FFF) that would be legally unconstrained in its use.
Fusion3 is a Greensboro, North Carolina company which manufactures 3D printers for commercial and education use. Fusion3 3D Printers use fused deposition modeling to create three-dimensional solid or hollow objects from a digital model, which can be designed or produced from a scan.
The Prusa i3 is a family of fused deposition modeling 3D printers, manufactured by Czech company Prusa Research under the trademarked name Original Prusa i3. Part of the RepRap project, Prusa i3 printers were called the most used 3D printer in the world in 2016. The first Prusa i3 was designed by Josef Průša in 2012, and was released as a commercial kit product in 2015. The latest model is available in both kit and factory assembled versions. The Prusa i3's comparable low cost and ease of construction and modification made it popular in education and with hobbyists and professionals, with the Prusa i3 model MK2 printer receiving several awards in 2016.
A variety of processes, equipment, and materials are used in the production of a three-dimensional object via additive manufacturing. 3D printing is also known as additive manufacturing, because the numerous available 3D printing process tend to be additive in nature, with a few key differences in the technologies and the materials used in this process.
3D printing filament is the thermoplastic feedstock for fused deposition modeling 3D printers. There are many types of filament available with different properties.
Extrusion welding is one of the processes used to weld thermoplastics and composites, developed in the 1960s as an evolution of hot gas welding. It can be a manual or automated process.
Material extrusion-based additive manufacturing (EAM) represents one of the seven categories of 3d printing processes, defined by the ISO international standard 17296-2. While it is mostly used for plastics, under the name of FDM or FFF, it can also be used for metals and ceramics. In this AM process category, the feedstock materials are mixtures of a polymeric binder and a fine grain solid powder of metal or ceramic materials. Similar type of feedstock is also used in the Metal Injection Molding (MIM) and in the Ceramic Injection Molding (CIM) processes. The extruder pushes the material towards a heated nozzle thanks to
Multi-material 3D printing is the additive manufacturing procedure of using multiple materials at the same time to fabricate an object. Similar to single material additive manufacturing it can be realised through methods such as FFF, SLA and Inkjet 3D printing. By expanding the design space to different materials, it establishes the possibilities of creating 3D printed objects of different color or with different material properties like elasticity or solubility. The first multi-material 3D printer Fab@Home became publicly available in 2006. The concept was quickly adopted by the industry followed by many consumer ready multi-material 3D printers.
3D concrete printing, or simply concrete printing, refers to digital fabrication processes for cementitious materials based on one of several different 3D printing technologies. 3D-printed concrete eliminates the need for formwork, reducing material waste and allowing for greater geometric freedom in complex structures. With recent developments in mix design and 3D printing technology over the last decade, 3D concrete printing has grown exponentially since its emergence in the 1990s. Architectural and structural applications of 3D-printed concrete include the production of building blocks, building modules, street furniture, pedestrian bridges, and low-rise residential structures.
A hotend is a component used in fused filament deposition 3D printers. Its purpose is to heat up and melt filament material for depositing into the intended shape.
