The surface properties of industrial 3D printing technologies vary greatly. We provide a short overview for the most important technologies, incl. Ra and Rz values by technology, post processing methods and sample images.
HP Jet Fusion vs. Laser Sintering
When HP announced the key features of their new 3D printer ‘Multi Jet Fusion 4200’ in 2014, they promised it would introduce a new kind of additive technology, which would print parts that were more accurate and stronger than those produced by FDM and laser sintering printers – and at ten times the speed. Now that the HP Multi Jet Fusion 4200 has been on the market for a few months, it is time to take an in-depth look at the most important characteristics of both technologies and most importantly, at the quality of the 3D printed parts that they are capable of producing.
The influence of layer height in 3D printing quality
All additive technologies (‚3D printing‘) have in common, that objects are build layer by layer. Therefore, one of the major quality parameters is the layer height in 3D printing. The layer height can be as low as a few microns in DLP or Polyjet machines, or several millimeters in large FDM printers. In this article, you will find an overview of the impact on layer height in 3D printing quality, an overview of the layer heights in popular additive technologies and typical cases, where lower layer heights are helpful or unnecessary.
Direct Metal 3D Printing: Process, Technology and Application
Sales figures and the willingness of industries to invest in additive manufacturing of metal prove that this technologies possibilities and importance are growing: Investments: A study of KMPG, an auditing company in Germany, shows that nearly 25% of managers in metal sectors invest in additive manufacturing and 27 % of industries which already have such ... Read More