Appliance Design - October 2008 - (Page 19)

PROTOTYPING metals specialist, says offers hardness, corrosion resistance, and excellent mechanical properties that can match the traits of stainless steels currently in use. It has a tensile strength of around1,100 MPa, which increases to about 1,300 MPa after post hardening. The Dimension division of Stratasys makes 3D printers that also employ the FDM technology. Jon Cobb, vice president of Dimension 3D Printer, also of Eden Prairie, says that the new ABSPlus material substantially increases the strength of parts over those made with traditional ABS materials. Previously, these materials represented about 70 percent of the strength of an injection-molded part, but the new material is about 90 percent of the value of an injection-molded part. He says unlike most models built with a 3D printer, the new material allows for snap/fit testing, and can be part of larger assembly in which other parts are bolted or screwed onto the component. In fact, the parts are so durable that about 15 percent of the models built with the material are used to create tooling such as jigs and fixtures. With ABSPlus, no additional curing or other post processing is needed other than removing supports. The material is available in up to nine different colors. Fused Deposition Modeling The FDM process uses a plastic filament to produce parts. The filaments are supplied in coil form and fed into a heated nozzle. As the nozzle moves over the build chamber, it deposits a thin bead of extruded plastic to form each layer of a part. The plastic hardens immediately after extrusion from the nozzle. Stratasys of Eden Prairie, Minn., developed the FDM process and offers prototyping equipment and the prototyping materials to operate them. One of the newest materials offered by Stratasys is the ABS-M30, which Fred Fisher, product marketing manager for Stratasys, says is 25 to 70 percent stronger than standard Stratasys ABS. It has tensile strength in the range of 36 MPa, tensile modulus of 2,413 MPa, and elongation at break of 4 percent. Flexural modulus is in the range of 2,317 MPa, flexural elongation is 52 percent, and IZOD notched impact tests are about 139 J/m. The ABS-M30 material makes stable parts, that have no appreciable warping, shrinkage, or moisture absorption, he says. It can make parts that are durable enough for functional testing, installation, and end use. One of its most popular uses is for developing rapid tooling such as jigs, fixtures, and check gages. Fisher says the improved mechanical performance is derived not only from the resin, but the hardware that is building the part. He says that the mechanical properties are better in part because of the elevated temperature at which the FDM equipment extrudes the material (about 295 DegC), which helps to better bond the individual layers, creating a denser, less porous part. www.applianceDESIGN.com AD09084WORLD.indd 1 applianceDESIGN October 2008 19 8/11/08 11:40:54 AM http://www.worldproducts.com http://www.worldproducts.com http://www.applianceDESIGN.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Appliance Design - October 2008

Appliance Design - October 2008 Contents Editorial Shipments/Forecasts News Watch Prototyping - Materials Play the Part Prototyping - Mix & Match Motors Electronics Coatings Design Marts Association Report: AHRI Advertiser's Index

Appliance Design - October 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.