Islamic University of Technology

Reverse Engineering
IPE 4671

Lecture note 05

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Materials for AM Processes
• Numerous laboratories around the world have researched and
developed materials for various AM processes.
• Below is a list of commercially available material systems from a
selected list of current manufacturers.

• Photo-curing resins,
• Viscous-binder polymers,
• Infiltrated metal,
• Direct metal and
• Infiltrated non-metallics.

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Materials for AM Processes
• Three types of materials can be used in additive manufacturing:
polymers, ceramics and metals.
• Polymers are most commonly used.
• Materials are often produced in powder form or in wire feedstock.
• Other materials used include adhesive papers, paper, chocolate, and
polymer/adhesive sheets for LOM.
• It is essentially feasible to print any material in this layer by layer method,
but the final quality will be largely determined by the material.
• The processes above can also change the microstructure of a material
due to high temperatures and pressures, therefore material
characteristics may not always be completely similar post manufacture,
when compared to other manufacturing processes.

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Materials for AM Processes
Polymers: Common plastics can be used in 3D printing, including ABS and
PC. The common structural polymers can also be used, as well as a
number of waxes and epoxy based resins. Mixing different polymer
powders can create a wide range of structural and aesthetic materials. The
following polymers can be used:
• ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene)
• PLA (polylactide), including soft PLA
• PC (polycarbonate)
• Polyamide (Nylon)
• Nylon 12 (Tensile strength 45 Mpa)
• Glass filled nylon (12.48 Mpa)
• Epoxy resin
• Wax
• Photopolymer resins
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Materials for AM Processes
Metals: A range of metals can be used, including a number of options
suitable for structural and integral component parts. Common metals used:
Steel, TItanium, Aluminium, Cobalt Chrome Alloy (DMLS materials, 2014).
• Maraging steel 1.2709 (Tensile Strength 1100 Mpa)
• Titanium alloy Ti6AI4V (Tensile Strength: 1150 Mpa)
• 15-5ph stainless steel (Tensile Strength: 1150 Mpa)
• Cobalt chrome alloy, Co28Cr6Mo (Tensile Strength 1300 Mpa)
• Aluminium alsi10mg (Tensile Strength 445mpa)
• Gold and Silver

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Materials for AM Processes
Ceramics: Ceramic powders can be printed, including:
• Silica/Glass
• Porcelain
• Silicon-Carbide

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Materials for AM Processes
Stereolithography.
• All commercial photopolymers for SLA are proprietary epoxies and
acrylate–epoxy hybrids. 3D Systems markets the following
photopolymers currently.
Selective laser sintering
• Commercial materials are polymers, metal or ceramic binder systems and
direct metal systems.
• The most popular material is polyamide, available in neat and glass-
reinforced formulations.
Fused Deposition Modeling
• Stratasys has developed extrusion filaments of ABS, polycarbonate and
polyphenylsulfone.
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 Materials for AM Processes
FDM Filament Materials
Carbon fiber, metal, ceramic
Acrylonitrile Butadiene
ABS Styrene
filler or magnetic particle filled
polymer

for high temperature PC, Polycarbonate, PC/ABS blend

Nylon applications, e.g. in cars PC/ABS - High impact strength

Polyetherimide (ULTEM) – Micro-porous, e.g. for filters or

PEI high performance polymer
porous bio- applications

Polylactic Acid – Poly Vinyl Alcohol - for support

PLA biodegradable
PVA structures – water soluble (but
hygroscopic)

Polyethylene Terephthalate, High Impact PolyStyrene -

PET also PETG
HIPS soluble in limonene (not
hygroscopic)

Thermoplastic Polyurethane - Glass, pH sensitive,

TPU flexible novel antibacterial material, …

Sources: [Link]; [Link]/materials/fdm; [Link]/[Link]

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Materials for AM Processes

Parameters to take into account whengetting filament

• Material: ABS, PLA...

• Filament Diamter (to fit with our printer), common 1.75mm Price and
weight
• Colour

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Materials for AM Processes
• ABS [FDM] - ABS-M30, PC-ABS, ABS-ESD7, ABSi, ABS-M30i
• ASA [FDM] - ASA
• Nylon [FDM, LS, MJF] - Nylon 12, Nylon 12 PA, Nylon 12 Carbon
Fiber™, Nylon 12 CF, Nylon 12 AF, Nylon 12 FR, Nylon 12 GF, Nylon 12 GSL,
Nylon 12 HST, Nylon 11, Nylon 11 EX, Nylon 11 FR
• PC [FDM]- PC, PC-ABS, PC-ISO
• PEKK [FDM]- Antero 800NA
• PPSF/PPSU [FDM] - PPSF (aka PPSU)
• TPE [LS, FDM] - Flex TPE, TPU 92A Elastomer
• ULTEM™ Resin [FDM] - ULTEM™ 1010 Resin, ULTEM™ 9085
Resin, ULTEM™ 9085 CG Resin

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 Materials for AM Processes
FDM Materials - Examples
Flexible, TPE, TPU, TPC Nylon 12 Carbon Fiber (Stratasys)

HIPS Wood / Metal PLA

Source: [Link]/best-3d-printer-filament-types-pla-abs-pet-exotic-wood-metal/; [Link]

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Materials for AM Processes

Fused metal deposition (LENS, DMD, SLS)

• A variety of metal powders have been processed using direct powder
techniques, including tool steel (A2, H13, H19, P20, P21, S7), stainless
steel (304, 316, 420, 15-5PH, 17- 4PH), nickel alloys (IN625, IN718,
Hastelloy X), cobalt alloys (Stellite 6, Stellite 21, Stellite 706), aluminum
alloy (4047), copper alloys and titanium alloys (CP Ti, Ti–6Al–4V, Ti–6Al–
2Sn–4Zr–6Mo).

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Materials for AM Processes

• Materials for 3D Printing Parts with DMLS

• Stainless Steel 17-4 PH
• Stainless Steel 316L
• Aluminum AlSi10Mg
• Nickel Alloy 625
• Nickel Alloy 718
• Titanium Ti64
• Cobalt Chrome CoCrMo
• MONEL K500
• Copper C18150

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STL Files and Slicing Software

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Rapid Prototyping Process
• All RP systems have a common information workflow. The main stages in
preparing and pre-processing data for automated fabrication of 3D
objects are as follows:
CAD Software's,
SOLIDWORKS, CATIA,
1. Create 3D CAD model AutoDESK, Proe,
2. Conversion to STL Format: SketchUp, FreeCAD, ….
3. Data Validation and Repair Slicing Software's,
4. Part Orientation and Scaling Ultimaker Cura,
5. Support Structures Generation 3DprinterOS,
Ideamaker, KISSlicer,
6. Setting-up of Process Parameters
OctoPrint, Slic3r,…….
7. 2D Slice Data Generation.
8. Layer by Layer Construction 3D Printer
9. Clean and Finish Manual work…

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File format in 3D printing

• There are many file formats that are used for 3D printing such as obj, vrml, ply,
3mf, x3d, etc.
• The most common file format for 3D printers is STL (.stl).
• STL was first developed for stereolithography in the late 1980s.
• It was created to prepare CAD data for 3D printers.
• Since then, it was considered as the “standard” file format for 3D printing.

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What is STL file?

• STL format is the most commonly used format file for 3D printing.
• An STL (Standard Tessellation Language or STereoLithography) file is a format
that describes surface geometry of a 3D object without any colour, texture or
other attributes.
• This format uses a series of linked triangles to reproduce surface geometry
of the 3D model.
• The more triangles used, the higher resolution the 3D model will have.
• STL file is widely used because it is simple, light and easy to be handled by 3D
machines and software.

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Limitations of STL files

• Although STL is the most widely used file format for 3D printing, it
also has its own limitations.
• STL only understands the external surface and shape of the 3D
model.
• Difficulties to correctly drawn gaps and overlaps of joining surfaces in
model. These are known as non-manifold edges.
• Furthermore, information such as colour, internal structure, texture or
attributes that a CAD file holds may not be included in an STL file.

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Advanced Instructions

• Deviation Tolerance is the maximum deviation between the designed part and
the STL representation of the part.
• Since an STL file approximates your part’s surface geometry using
tessellated triangles, there is a tradeoff between accurate representation
of curves and the number of triangles used. The larger the number of
triangles, the larger the file size.
• Angle Tolerance controls the maximum angle between the normal vectors of
each triangle. The smaller this value, the more dense the tessellation in
curved surfaces. Increases both resolution and file size.
• If you are printing an Assembly in SOLIDWORKS, please ensure that the
configuration of your assembly is according to your design intent.
• Interfering components will be printed conjoined into one piece and moving
components require the appropriate allowance with other.
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Important settings when exporting STL files

• For good print quality and file size consider the following settings while
exporting STL files

1. Angle control
• To improve the print resolution, it is recommended to have gaps
between triangles and change its angle deviation between adjacent
triangles.
• In this way, it will be easier to adjust how close objects are layered or
tiled together.

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Important settings when exporting STL files

2. Chordal deviation
• Chord height is the maximum distance
between the surface of the original
design and STL mesh. Choosing the
right tolerance will give you smoother
and not pixelated 3D part.
• The chord tolerance should be set
between 0.01 to 0.001 millimeters.
This setting usually results in good 3D
prints.

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Triangulation: 2 inch round hole

coarse better smooth fine

approx. approx. approx. approx.

Resolution 0.1 Resolution 0.01 Resolution 0.001 Resolution 0.0001

Inches Inches Inches Inches

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Important settings when exporting STL files

3. Binary or ASCII
• STL files can store information in two different ways.
• These are Binary encoding and ASCII encoding.
• Binary files are smaller and easier to share while ASCII files are
visually easy to read and check.
• Binary format is recommended to use for 3D printing.
• However, ASCII format is suggested for those who want to manually
inspect STL file for debugging.

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Popular Slicing Programs

• Cura
• Slic3r
• KISSlicer
• IdeaMaker

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G-Code

• The output of the slicer program is typically a G-Code file.

• G-Code stands for “geometric code”.
• G-Code is used in many types of CNC machines.
• Includes commands to move the extruder to specified (x,y,z) coordinates,
feed (or stop feeding)

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