Printing Media

Submitted by colburn on Sun, 07/07/2013 - 15:10

The list of media/materials used to print 3D objects is growing as fast as innovaters can create them.  Google a product if you want more information about its composition, or how it is utilized.

  • ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, a thermoplastic polymer)
  • PLA (Polylactic Acid, a biodegradable thermoplastic polymer)
  • Nylon, polyethylene plastics (think recycled  bottle & jug caps, food containers)
  • flexible polymers
  • salt
  • concrete
  • paper
  • acrylic
  • graphene
  • metal (stainless steel powder & a binder is laid down by a 3d printer & air pockets later infused with bronze powder)
  • silicon carbide and composites (uses powder bed inkjet 3D printers)
  • glass (glass particles in a binder in which the design is printed/laid down in layers and later fired in an oven),  
  • PVA (water soluble)
  • pastes (clay, silicon)
  • Laywoo-D3 (German-engineered 3D printable wood/polymer composite that is 40% recycled wood)
  • biomaterials (collagen, chitosan, fibrin, agar, alginate, tricalcium phosphate, titanium)