3D METAL PRINTING

                                 3D METAL PRINTING

     

Hey everyone,

                      I'm back after a really really long time with a rather really interesting and cool topic. Many people might be familiar with 3D printing by now(I mean 2018) which is similar to printing a piece of information on your paper but in a 3D format normally your printer prints something in a 2D format. For those of you who aren't familiar with it ,a 2D format has only length and height e.g circle,square etc., Whereas a 3D format has length, height and breadth e.g sphere,cube etc.

3D printing is quite popular now-a-days but majority of them prints using plastic it is quite effective but not much durable and as we all now it doesn't go well with nature they(plastic and nature) are not besties. So, now there has been a major breakthrough in the printing industry that uses metal powder to print stuffs you need,ya you read it right. Though it started two years ago the popularity for this is being really high now.

So, what is 3D metal printing and how it works?

   3D metal printing is a type of additive technology which means that material(metal powder) is being gradually added and using high power lasers it is carved with high precision and sensitivity to get the desired product. (Off topic- The normal melting,turning,milling are all subtractive technology in which material is removed gradually.) 

Before all this process the printer first requires a design  being made by CAD(computer aided design) creating a detailed image from all desired angles of the object to be made and then it is converted into .stl format so that the printer can interpret the instructions.

Metal printing

The metal printing process is a multilayered approach, first the design is sliced very finely in a horizontal plane then using the information from the computer the laser traces out what shape is required and then the laser pulses heats up the metal powder to get a solid form.

Once this base process is completed the metal printing process begins again with each layer not more than 0.01mm thick. This very gradual process results in the final finished product with heat from the laser forming a solid shape. This process is either known as Direct metal laser sintering(DMLS) or Selective laser melting(SLM) depending on the heat used and whether the powder is melted completely or just enough to fuse together.

DMLS and SLM

Direct metal laser sintering builds the 3D metal directly from CAD data without the need for tooling. It uses variety of metals and alloys like stainless steel, cobalt chrome and lnconel.

DMLS is an excellent choice for metal prototypes, high end applications and end-use parts.

First a base layer is formed and then another layer is added and so on to give supplemental strength and overhanging features. The completed metal is taken out from base plate and treated with age hardening heat process to further harden the part and then polished.

DMLS parts can be used in highly cosmetic applications like tools and manufacturing aids,small integrated structures, surgical implants and aerospace applications.

In selective laser melting a laser beam hits a thin layer of metal powder and selectively welds the particle together. A new layer of metal powder is added then the build platform is lowered by the amount of thickness of one layer. After completion of the entire process the non-used powder is dismissed and the finished product remains. This way complex materials are build layer by layer like the image here.

FACT FLASH:

     Although with the 3D metal printers the possibilities are almost limitless still we can't print stuffs in a matter of seconds. It takes few hours to days to build a complex material.

   The 3D metal printers are actually quite affordable their price starts from 500$(35000INR) to a max price of 4000$(3,00,000INR) or more and it is even available in amazon and will be delivered before Christmas.

What better Christmas gift than a gift which can print gifts right? :) 

3D printed utensils

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.....................Keep Calm and Love Engineering...................