Can 3d printers use different materials

Top 10 Materials Used For Industrial 3D Printing

Over the years, 3D printing industry has been growing and new advancements are being introduced. New 3D printing machines are also being developed to print different kinds of materials such as plastics, metals, composites and many more.

When it comes to industrial 3D printing, there is a wide range of materials to choose from. These materials have their own unique features, strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, there are important factors such as material type, texture, cost, etc. that need to be considered to avoid mistakes in 3d printing. It can be difficult to choose the most suitable material for a specific project.

To guide designers and engineers, listed below are the Top 10 materials used for industrial 3D printing.

1. Nylon

Nylon (known as polyamide) is a synthetic thermoplastic linear polyamide and is the most common plastic material. It is a well-known 3D printing filament because of its flexibility, durability, low friction and corrosion resistance. Nylon is also a popular material used in manufacturing of clothes and accessories.

Nylon is suitable to use when creating complex and delicate geometries. It is primarily used as filaments in FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) or FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) 3D printers. This material is inexpensive and recognised as one of the toughest plastic material.

Distinct Characteristics:

• Nylon is known for its durability.
• It has an excellent strength to flexibility ratio.
• Nylon has a very little warpage.
• This type of material can be easily dyed or coloured.

Disadvantages:

• Since nylon is hydroscopic, it should be kept dry.
• It has a shelf life of 12 months.
• This material can shrink during cooling, thus, prints may be less precise.
• Printer suitability also varies.

2. ABS

ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) is a thermoplastic that is commonly used as a 3D printer filament. It is also a material generally used in personal or household 3D printing and is a go-to material for most 3D printers.

Distinct Characteristics:

• It is one of the most accessible and cheap materials for 3D printing.
• ABS is highly available and has a wide variety of colours.
• This material has a longer lifespan compared to Nylon.
• It is also mechanically strong.
• This material is not suitable for hobbyists. It is only used for manufacturers and engineers who are looking for high-quality prototype production.

Disadvantages:

• It requires heated bed when printing.
• Since ABS materials have high melting point, it has a tendency to experience warping if cooled while printing.
• This type of filament is a non-biodegradable toxic material that releases toxic fumes with awful smell at high temperature.

3. Resin

Resin is one of the most used material in 3D printing. It is mainly used in technologies such as SLA, DLP, Multijet or CLIP technologies. There are various types of resins that can be used in 3D printing such as castable resins, tough resins, flexible resins, etc.

Distinct characteristics:

• It can be used in many applications.
• It has low shrinkage.
• Resin materials have high chemical resistance.
• This material is rigid and delicate.

Disadvantages:

• It is expensive.
• This type of filament also expires.
• It needs to be stored securely due to its high photo-reactivity.
• When exposed to heat, it can cause premature polymerization.

4. PLA (Polylactic Acid)

PLA or Polylactic Acid are made from renewable resources such as sugarcane or cornstarch. It is also called “green plastic”. It is mostly used in primary and secondary schools since it is safe to use and easy to print with. It is also used in FDM desktop printing.

Distinct characteristics:

• PLA is easy to print since it has low warping.
• It can also be printed on a cold surface.
• It can print with sharper corners and features compared to ABS material.
• This material is available in different colours.

Disadvantages:

• PLA materials are not very sturdy and can deform when exposed to extreme heat.
• This type of material is less sturdy.

5. Gold and silver

Today, it is possible to 3D print using gold and silver. These filaments are sturdy materials and are processed in powder form. These materials are generally used in the jewellery sector. These metal use the DMLS (Direct Metal Laser Sintering) or SLM process for printing.

Distinct Characteristics:

• It has high electrical conductance.
• It is heat proof.

Disadvantages:

• Printing with gold and silver are expensive.
• It takes a lot of effort and time to get it right.
• Both gold and silver are difficult to work with lasers because of its high reflectivity and high thermal conductivity.
• Since extremely high temperature is needed to print these materials, a regular FDM 3D printer is not suitable to use.

6. Stainless steel

Stainless steel is printed by fusion or laser sintering. There are two possible technologies that can be used for this material. It can be DMLS or SLM technologies. Since stainless steel is all about strength and detail, it is perfect to use for miniatures, bolts and key chains

Distinct Characteristics:

• Stainless steel can be heat treated in order to improve strength and hardness.
• It performs well in high strength applications.
• It provides strong resistance against corrosion.
• It has high ductility.

Disadvantages:

• Building time for 3D printing using these metals are much longer.
• Printing with stainless steel is expensive.
• Printing size is limited.

7. Titanium

Titanium is the strongest and the lightest material for 3D printing. It is used in the process called Direct Metal Laser Sintering. This metal is mainly used in high-tech fields such as space exploration, aeronautics and medical field.

Distinct Characteristics:

• It provides greater complexity and resolution in design.
• It offers industrial designers precision in design.
• It has an average surface roughness.
• Titanium is also biocompatible and resists corrosion.

Disadvantages:

• Titanium 3D printing is expensive.

8. Ceramics

Ceramics is one of the newest material that is used in 3D printing. It is more durable than metal and plastic since it can withstand extreme heat and pressure without even breaking or warping it. Moreover, this type of material is not prone to corrosion like other metals or wear away like plastics do.

This material is generally used in Binder Jetting technology, SLA (Stereolithography) and DLP (Digital Light Processing).

Distinct characteristics:

• It has high-precision components with a smooth and glossy surface.
• It has also resistance to acid, heat and lye.
• It has a wide range of colour

Disadvantages:

• Ceramic requires great amount of temperature to melt.
• It is not suitable for glazing and kilning processes.
• Since it is fragile, it has limitations in printing objects with enclosed and interlocking parts.
• It is not ideal for piece assembly process.

9. PET/PETG

Like Nylon, PET or Polyethylene terephthalate is also one of the frequently used plastic. This material is used in thermoforming processes. It can also be combined with other materials like glass fiber to create engineering resins.

In 3D printing, PETG is used. It is a modified version of PET where G stands for “glycol-modified”. As a result, a filament that is less brittle, clearer and easier to use than PET is formed. This filament is applicable in FDM or FFF technologies.

Distinct characteristics:

• This material is durable.
• It is impact-resistant and recyclable.
• It can also be sterilised.
• It has an excellent layer adhesion.
• It has a combined functionality of ABS (temperature resistant, stronger) and PLA (easy to print).

Disadvantages:

• The material can be weakened by UV light.
• It is prone to scratching.
• More testing with 3D printing parameters is needed.

10. HIPS (High Impact Polystyrene)

HIPS or High Impact Polystyrene are plastic filaments that are used for support structures in FDM printers. It comparable to ABS when it comes to ease of use. The only difference is its ability to dissolve. HIPS is completely soluble to a liquid hydrocarbon called limonene.

Distinct Characteristics:

• It has good machinability. It can also be used to make complex structures.
• It is very smooth and lightweight.
• It is water resistant and impact resistant.
• It is inexpensive.

Disadvantages:

• It produces strong fumes. Thus, it is recommended to be used in a ventilated area.
• Without constant heat flow, this material can clog up nozzle and delivery tubes of the printer.

With proper knowledge equipped and the right materials being used, industrial 3D printing can be done efficiently. As the 3D printing industry grows, more and more materials will be used for making prototypes and will be compatible with different 3D printers. As with any new processes and equipment there is a steep learning curve and this increases as you move from plastic to metal 3D Printing.

If you want to enjoy the ease of 3D printing, you can just outsource to a reliable 3D printing service provider. Your company actually doesn't need to do 3D design and printing, mechanical design and drafting, 3D design modelling services and in-house as they all can be done professionally with quality and accuracy by a local 3d printing company. 

Guide to 3D Printing Materials: Types, Applications, and Properties

3D printing empowers you to prototype and manufacture parts for a wide range of applications quickly and cost-effectively. But choosing the right 3D printing process is just one side of the coin. Ultimately, it'll be largely up to the materials to enable you to create parts with the desired mechanical properties, functional characteristics, or looks.

This comprehensive guide to 3D printing materials showcases the most popular plastic and metal 3D printing materials available, compares their properties, applications, and describes a framework that you can use to choose the right one for your project.

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Need some help figuring out which 3D printing material you should choose? Our new interactive material wizard helps you make the right material decisions based on your application and the properties you care the most about from our growing library of resins.

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There are dozens of plastic materials available for 3D printing, each with its unique qualities that make it best suited to specific use cases. To simplify the process of finding the material best suited for a given part or product, let’s first look at the main types of plastics and the different 3D printing processes.

There are the two main types of plastics:

• Thermoplastics are the most commonly used type of plastic. The main feature that sets them apart from thermosets is their ability to go through numerous melt and solidification cycles. Thermoplastics can be heated and formed into the desired shape. The process is reversible, as no chemical bonding takes place, which makes recycling or melting and reusing thermoplastics feasible. A common analogy for thermoplastics is butter, which can be melted, re-solidify, and melted again. With each melting cycle, the properties change slightly.

• Thermosetting plastics (also referred to as thermosets) remain in a permanent solid state after curing. Polymers in thermosetting materials cross-link during a curing process that is induced by heat, light, or suitable radiation. Thermosetting plastics decompose when heated rather than melting, and will not reform upon cooling. Recycling thermosets or returning the material back into its base ingredients is not possible. A thermosetting material is like cake batter, once baked into a cake, it cannot be melted back into batter again.

The three most established plastic 3D printing processes today are the following:

• Fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printers melt and extrude thermoplastic filaments, which a printer nozzle deposits layer by layer in the build area.

• Stereolithography (SLA) 3D printers use a laser to cure thermosetting liquid resins into hardened plastic in a process called photopolymerization.

• Selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D printers use a high-powered laser to fuse small particles of thermoplastic powder.

Video Guide

Having trouble finding the best 3D printing technology for your needs? In this video guide, we compare FDM, SLA, and SLS technologies across popular buying considerations.

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Fused deposition modeling (FDM), also known as fused filament fabrication (FFF), is the most widely used form of 3D printing at the consumer level, fueled by the emergence of hobbyist 3D printers. 

This technique is well-suited for basic proof-of-concept models, as well as quick and low-cost prototyping of simple parts, such as parts that might typically be machined.

Consumer level FDM has the lowest resolution and accuracy when compared to other plastic 3D printing processes and is not the best option for printing complex designs or parts with intricate features. Higher-quality finishes may be obtained through chemical and mechanical polishing processes. Industrial FDM 3D printers use soluble supports to mitigate some of these issues and offer a wider range of engineering thermoplastics or even composites, but they also come at a steep price.

As the melted filament forms each layer, sometimes voids can remain between layers when they don’t adhere fully. This results in anisotropic parts, which is important to consider when you are designing parts meant to bear load or resist pulling.

FDM 3D printing materials are available in a variety of color options. Various experimental plastic filament blends also exist to create parts with wood- or metal-like surfaces.

The most common FDM 3D printing materials are ABS, PLA, and their various blends. More advanced FDM printers can also print with other specialized materials that offer properties like higher heat resistance, impact resistance, chemical resistance, and rigidity.

Stereolithography was the world’s first 3D printing technology, invented in the 1980s, and is still one of the most popular technologies for professionals.  

SLA parts have the highest resolution and accuracy, the clearest details, and the smoothest surface finish of all plastic 3D printing technologies. Resin 3D printing is a great option for highly detailed prototypes requiring tight tolerances and smooth surfaces, such as molds, patterns, and functional parts. SLA parts can also be highly polished and/or painted after printing, resulting in client-ready parts with high-detailed finishes.

Parts printed using SLA 3D printing are generally isotropic—their strength is more or less consistent regardless of orientation because chemical bonds happen between each layer. This results in parts with predictable mechanical performance critical for applications like jigs and fixtures, end-use parts, and functional prototyping.

SLA offers the widest range of material options for plastic 3D printing.

SLA 3D printing is highly versatile, offering resin formulations with a wide range of optical, mechanical, and thermal properties to match those of standard, engineering, and industrial thermoplastics.

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Selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D printing is trusted by engineers and manufacturers across different industries for its ability to produce strong, functional parts. Low cost per part, high productivity, and established materials make the technology ideal for a range of applications from rapid prototyping to small-batch, bridge, or custom manufacturing.

As the unfused powder supports the part during printing, there’s no need for dedicated support structures. This makes SLS ideal for complex geometries, including interior features, undercuts, thin walls, and negative features. 

Just like SLA, SLS parts are also generally more isotropic than FDM parts. SLS parts have a slightly rough surface finish due to the powder particles, but almost no visible layer lines.

SLS 3D printing materials are ideal for a range of functional applications, from engineering consumer products to manufacturing and healthcare.

The material selection for SLS is limited compared to FDM and SLA, but the available materials have excellent mechanical characteristics, with strength resembling injection-molded parts. The most common material for selective laser sintering is nylon, a popular engineering thermoplastic with excellent mechanical properties. Nylon is lightweight, strong, and flexible, as well as stable against impact, chemicals, heat, UV light, water, and dirt.

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Different 3D printing materials and processes have their own strengths and weaknesses that define their suitability for different applications. The following table provides a high level summary of some key characteristics and considerations.

	FDM	SLA	SLS
Pros	Low-cost consumer machines and materials available	Great value High accuracy Smooth surface finish Range of functional materials	Strong functional parts Design freedom No need for support structures
Cons	Low accuracy Low details Limited design compatibility High cost industrial machines if accuracy and high performance materials are needed	Sensitive to long exposure to UV light	More expensive hardware Limited material options
Applications	Low-cost rapid prototyping Basic proof-of-concept models Select end-use parts with high-end industrial machines and materials	Functional prototyping Patterns, molds, and tooling Dental applications Jewelry prototyping and casting Models and props	Functional prototyping Short-run, bridge, or custom manufacturing
Materials	Standard thermoplastics, such as ABS, PLA, and their various blends on consumer level machines. High performance composites on high cost industrial machines	Varieties of resin (thermosetting plastics). Standard, engineering (ABS-like, PP-like, flexible, heat-resistant), castable, dental, and medical (biocompatible).	Engineering thermoplastics. Nylon 11, Nylon 12, and their composites, thermoplastic elastomers such as TPU.

Beyond plastics, there are multiple 3D printing processes available for metal 3D printing. 

• Metal FDM

Metal FDM printers work similarly to traditional FDM printers, but use extrude metal rods held together by polymer binders. The finished “green” parts are then sintered in a furnace to remove the binder. 

SLM and DMLS printers work similarly to SLS printers, but instead of fusing polymer powders, they fuse metal powder particles together layer by layer using a laser. SLM and DMLS 3D printers can create strong, accurate, and complex metal products, making this process ideal for aerospace, automotive, and medical applications.

• Titanium is lightweight and has excellent mechanical characteristics. It is strong, hard and highly resistant to heat, oxidation, and acid.

• Stainless steel has high strength, high ductility, and is resistant to corrosion.

• Aluminum is a lightweight, durable, strong, and has good thermal properties.

• Tool steel is a hard, scratch-resistant material that you can use to print end-use tools and other high-strength parts..

• Nickel alloys have high tensile, creep and rupture strength and are heat and corrosion resistant.

Compared to plastic 3D printing technologies, metal 3D printing is substantially more costly and complex, limiting its accessibility to most businesses.

Alternatively, SLA 3D printing is well-suited for casting workflows that produce metal parts at a lower cost, with greater design freedom, and in less time than traditional methods.  

Another alternative is electroplating SLA parts, which involves coating a plastic material in a layer of metal via electrolysis. This combines some of the best qualities of metal—strength, electrical conductivity, and resistance to corrosion and abrasion—with the specific properties of the primary (usually plastic) material.

Plastic 3D printing is well-suited to create patterns that can be cast to produce metal parts.

With all these materials and 3D printing options available, how can you make the right selection?

Here’s our three-step framework to choose the right 3D printing material for your application.

Plastics used for 3D printing have different chemical, optical, mechanical, and thermal characteristics that determine how the 3D printed parts will perform. As the intended use approaches real-world usage, performance requirements increase accordingly.

Requirement	Description	Recommendation
Low performance	For form and fit prototyping, conceptual modeling, and research and development, printed parts only need to meet low technical performance requirements. Example: A form prototype of a soup ladle for ergonomic testing. No functional performance requirements needed besides surface finish.	FDM: PLA SLA: Standard Resins, Clear Resin (transparent part), Draft Resin (fast printing)
Moderate performance	For validation or pre-production uses, printed parts must behave as closely to final production parts as possible for functional testing but do not have strict lifetime requirements. Example: A housing for electronic components to protect against sudden impact. Performance requirements include ability to absorb impact, housing needs to snap together and hold its shape.	FDM: ABS SLA: Engineering Resins SLS: Nylon 11, Nylon 12, TPU
High performance	For end-use parts, final 3D printed production parts must stand up to significant wear for a specific time period, whether that’s one day, one week, or several years. Example: Shoe outsoles. Performance requirements include strict lifetime testing with cyclic loading and unloading, color fastness over periods of years, amongst others like tear resistance.	FDM: Composites SLA: Engineering, Medical, Dental, or Jewelry Resins SLS: Nylon 11, Nylon 12, TPU, nylon composites

Once you’ve identified the performance requirements for your product, the next step is translating them into material requirements—the properties of a material that will satisfy those performance needs. You’ll typically find these metrics on a material’s data sheet.

Requirement	Description	Recommendation
Tensile strength	Resistance of a material to breaking under tension. High tensile strength is important for structural, load bearing, mechanical, or statical parts.	FDM: PLA SLA: Clear Resin, Rigid Resins SLS: Nylon 12, nylon composites
Flexural modulus	Resistance of a material to bending under load. Good indicator for either the stiffness (high modulus) or the flexibility (low modulus) of a material.	FDM: PLA (high), ABS (medium) SLA: Rigid Resins (high), Tough and Durable Resins (medium), Flexible and Elastic Resins (low) SLS: nylon composites (high), Nylon 12 (medium)
Elongation	Resistance of a material to breaking when stretched. Helps you compare flexible materials based on how much they can stretch. Also indicates if a material will deform first, or break suddenly.	FDM: ABS (medium), TPU (high) SLA: Tough and Durable Resins (medium), Polyurethane Resins (medium), Flexible and Elastic Resins (high) SLS: Nylon 12 (medium), Nylon 11 (medium), TPU (high)
Impact strength	Ability of a material to absorb shock and impact energy without breaking. Indicates toughness and durability, helps you figure out how easily a material will break when dropped on the ground or crashed into another object.	FDM: ABS, Nylon SLA: Tough 2000 Resin, Tough 1500 Resin, Grey Pro Resin, Durable Resin, Polyurethane Resins SLS: Nylon 12, Nylon 11, nylon composites
Heat deflection temperature	Temperature at which a sample deforms under a specified load. Indicates if a material is suitable for high temperature applications.	SLA: High Temp Resin, Rigid Resins SLS: Nylon 12, Nylon 11, nylon composites
Hardness (durometer)	Resistance of a material to surface deformation. Helps you identify the right “softness” for soft plastics, like rubber and elastomers for certain applications.	FDM: TPU SLA: Flexible Resin, Elastic Resin SLS: TPU
Tear strength	Resistance of a material to growth of cuts under tension. Important to assess the durability and the resistance to tearing of soft plastics and flexible materials, such as rubber.	FDM: TPU SLA: Flexible Resin, Elastic Resin, Durable Resin SLS: Nylon 11, TPU
Creep	Creep is the tendency of a material to deform permanently under the influence of constant stress: tensile, compressive, shear, or flexural. Low creep indicates longevity for hard plastics and is crucial for structural parts.	FDM: ABS SLA: Polyurethane Resins, Rigid Resins SLS: Nylon 12, Nylon 11, nylon composites
Compression set	Permanent deformation after material has been compressed. Important for soft plastics and elastic applications, tells you if a material will return to its original shape after the load is removed.	FDM: TPU SLA: Flexible Resin, Elastic Resin SLS: TPU

For even more details on material properties, read our guide to about the most common mechanical and thermal properties.

Once you translate performance requirements to material requirements, you’ll most likely end up with a single material or a smaller group of materials that could be suitable for your application. 

If there are multiple materials that fulfil your basic requirements, you can then look at a wider range of desired characteristics and consider the pros, cons, and trade-offs of the given materials and processes to make the final choice.

Try our interactive material wizard to find materials based on your application and the properties you care the most about from our growing library of materials. Do you have specific questions about 3D printing materials? Contact our experts.

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3D printers in construction: prospects for application

At first glance, 3D printing structures seem to be some kind of shell of a half-finished building. But upon closer examination, you will not find even a brick. Layers of material seem to build up one on top of the other - this is how a complex structure is created. It's a futuristic world of 3D printing where robotic arms automatically layer and compress layers of concrete or plastic or any other material into a foundation and build a structure.

This method of construction is quite niche today - only a few prototypes of 3D houses and offices have been printed in the world. However, this technology represents an exciting and potentially powerful solution to building change.

What is 3D printing in construction, what is the potential, and will we be working on 3D printed projects in the near future?

1. What is 3d printing in construction?
2. 3D printers in construction: how is it done?
3. 5 examples of innovation
4. How can 3d printed projects help construction companies?
5. 3D printing distribution
6. 3D printing in civil engineering
7. Wiki House technology - an open source project for 3D printing: what is behind the concept
8. Reverse side of the coin
9. How can 3D printing be integrated into construction
10. About PlanRadar

3D printing in construction - what kind of technology?

3D printing for construction uses both a 3D printer that has a robotic “crane-arm” that builds structures right on the construction site, and the creation of certain elements by printers at the factory, which are already assembled into a structure on site.

The concept of 3D printing is not new: it first appeared in the 80s. But it's only in the last decade that this technology has been improved enough (and the cost significantly reduced) to become a real mainstream.

3D printers are not much different from conventional inkjet office printers. The software tells the printer about the dimensions of the final product. And then the printer starts to output the material to the platform according to the plan. 3D printers often use liquid metals, plastics, cement, and variations of various materials that, when cooled and dried, form a structure.

In a 3D construction printer, the CAD or BIM programs tell the device what to print, and the machine begins layering the material according to the design plan.

3D printers in construction: how do they work?

3D printing concept - The printer extrudes a defined liquid mixture in layers, level by level, creating a design based on a 3D model. The prepared mix of concrete, filler, plasticizer and other components is loaded into the hopper of the device and fed to the print head. The mixture is applied to the surface of the site or to the previous printed layers. This is how most 3D printers work. Among them, there are three types of devices for 3D printing:

Robotic printer

Read also: New technologies in construction 2021

5 innovative examples of 3D printing

To date, only a few 3D printing projects have been implemented in the construction industry. Here are five of the most impressive and promising projects:

Dubai City Hall Office Building, UAE

1. Dubai City Hall Office Building, UAE

3D printed building. The office block built in the UAE is 9,5 meter high building with an area of ​​640 m2.

An Apis Cor 3D printer moved around an open-air construction site with a crane and erected different parts of the structure.

2. Office of the Future, UAE

Office of the Future, UAE

Another impressive 3D printed building in the UAE, the Office of the Future is a unique, fairly large structure that currently houses a temporary headquarters organization Dubai Future Foundation.

For this building, the elements were not created on site and were printed in 17 days, while the building itself was assembled in 48 hours.

3. WinSun 3D Printer Homes, China

WinSun 3D Printer Homes, China

WinSun 3D Printing Company of China has also applied factory-built 3D printers to build residential buildings. The company has created several house projects, including a small multi-storey building. All construction details can be printed quickly and cheaply and then quickly assembled on the construction site.

The company calculated that it would cost as little as $161,000 to build and print their five-story building.

4. 3D printed license plate at Lewis Grand Hotel, Philippines

3D printed license plate at Lewis Grand Hotel, Philippines

When planning a trip to the Philippines, consider staying at the Lewis Grand Hotel in Angeles City , Pampanga, where visitors will be greeted with the world's first 3D printed hotel suite. The hotel room was designed by Lewis Jakich, hotel owner and materials engineer, in collaboration with 3D printing specialist Anthony Rudenko. They created a massive 3D printer that prints sand and concrete based on volcanic ash. The room was printed in 100 hours.

5. Two-story mansion in Beckum, Germany

Two-story mansion in Beckum, Germany

The first 3D-printed residential building with an area of ​​​​about 80 square meters - the brainchild of the German construction company PERI GmbH and the architectural design bureau MENSE-KORTE ingenieure + architecture. A BOD2 3D printer was used to print one square meter of double wall cladding in 5 minutes. The building is a structure with three-layer hollow walls filled with insulating mass. Installation of hollow pipes and connections during printing was carried out manually.

3D printing in construction seems really impressive, but what are the real benefits of such technology?

How can 3D printed designs be useful for construction companies?

Proponents of 3D printing houses and commercial offices point to several advantages of this construction method:

• Zero waste construction