Additive Manufacturing

FEB 2014

Modern Machine Shop and MoldMaking Technology present ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, a quarterly supplement reporting on the use of additive processes to manufacture functional parts. More at additivemanufacturinginsight.com.

Issue link: https://am.epubxp.com/i/246541

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 9 of 19

F E AT U R E By Christina Fuges Practicality & PossIbIlIty Functional Components from Plastic Droplets The essential aspect of the machine and part pictured here is that it is possible to produce one-off plastic parts and smallvolume batches from 3D CAD fles using standard granulate and without requiring a mold. Arburg's AKF plastic freeforming process produces functional components directly from plastic droplets. This fexible part is an example of a two-component application using a combination of hard and soft materials— polyamide (PA) and thermoplastic elastomers (TPE). The part was produced without using support structures. It was made from conventional, low-cost standard granulates instead of resins, powders, strips or otherwise pre-assembled materials. The produced part is not a prototype, but a fully functional, high-quality component. In the AKF process, the machine is flled with the standard plastic granulate, a heated plasticizing cylinder melts the plastic in the discharge unit, a nozzle closure uses fast opening and closing movements to produce the plastic droplets under pressure, and the part is additively built up. 8— AM Supplement

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Additive Manufacturing - FEB 2014