Gauge Newsletter January 2019 | Page 36

Stereolithography materials (epoxy resins) Silver Titanium Steel Wax Photopolymers Polycarbonate Concrete etc. With the development of this technology, it is now even possible to use living cells as the printing material. Isn’t that amazing? Different Types of 3D Printing Methods. As mentioned before, all 3D printing technologies create physical objects from digital designs layer by layer, but each using its own pre-defined method. The reasons to have different types of 3D printers and printing processes are similar to that of the 2D printers we're so familiar with. It all comes down to the following considerations. Printer Cost Print Quality Printing Speed Printer Capability Practicality User Expectations Let us now take a step into few of those 3D Printing methods. 3D Printing processes can be categorized into few categories depending on the technology they use. Material Extrusion Binder Jetting Sheet Lamination Powder Bed Fusion etc. Material Extrusion In these types of processes, materials injected through indexing heat nozzles onto a platform. The nozzle traces the cross-section pattern for each layer. This process repeats until the model is completed. PAGE| 34 University of Peradeniya GAUGE Magazine