What is 3D printer filament made of? This guide examines polymers, additives, and composites, offering practical tips for digital design and hardware engineers.
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How to Solder Wires: Comprehensive Guide for Engineers
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ABS vs PLA: Which Filament Should You Use?
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The Next Byte Podcast is hosted by two young engineers - Daniel and Farbod - who select the most interesting tech/engineering cont...
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TAGGED WITH smart material printing
Advancing New Horizons in Additive Manufacturing (AM)
Discover how to print with high-performance filaments like PEEK, PEKK, and ULTEM. Learn about their properties, hardware needs, challenges, and best practices for industrial-grade 3D printing.
Explore how 3D-Fuel's Pro PCTG filament advances additive manufacturing, offering higher impact strength, improved environmental resistance, and reliable printability for functional and industrial 3D printing applications.
3devo's next-generation desktop extruder combines industrial precision with lab-scale simplicity enabling more controlled, higher-performance and data-driven 3D printing material workflows.
TAGGED WITH lightweighting
Lightweighting materials play a crucial role in offering the potential for improved fuel efficiency, enhanced performance, and reduced emissions in the automotive industry. It is anticipated that the lighter and more efficient automotive materials and components will revolutionize the industry in the coming years.
Latest Posts
For the first time, ETH Zurich researchers have been able to make a superconducting component from graphene that is quantum coherent and sensitive to magnetic fields. This step opens up interesting prospects for fundamental research.
3 minutes read
Where one engineer may require a surface that is as reflective as a mirror, another may want a product that absorbs as much light as possible. How do you achieve both material properties?
Researchers have developed a hackable and multi-functional 3D printer for soft materials that is affordable and open design.
ETH Zurich researchers have developed a structure that can switch between stable shapes as needed while being remarkably simple to produce. The key lies in a clever combination of base materials.
4 minutes read
Good bed adhesion is key to achieving defect-free prints. But how do you remove 3D prints that are stuck firmly to the build surface of the 3D printer? This guide reveals all.
In this video we start with a recap on why you would choose MJF rather than other 3D printing technologies and explore TPU, looking at the advantages of the material and how it can be used.
3 minutes read
While automated manufacturing is ubiquitous today, it was once a nascent field birthed by inventors such as Oliver Evans, who is credited with creating the first fully automated industrial process, in flour mill he built and gradually automated in the late 1700s.
As one of the most durable low-cost filaments, ABS is an essential material for most 3D printer users. But ABS print speed can be a limitation on productivity.
A short primer on how to choose PCBA surface finishes
4 minutes read
Researchers at Columbia Engineering and the Fashion Institute of Technology team up to create a non-toxic bioleather, inspired by the power of microbes and indigenous science.
Looking for thermoplastics that can take a solid hit without breaking? Here are five impact-resistant polymers to consider for your next project.
6 minutes read
One of the great plus points of 3D printing is that you can design pretty much any shape or geometry that you want, and Nylon is a great general-purpose material to use. But there are some key considerations to keep in mind when designing nylon parts to make sure you get the parts you want.
3 minutes read
When we choose what to buy, we usually look at the expiration date, brand, quality seals, ingredients, and price. But how do you know if the manufacturer is fully honest – or that the product was properly stored during shipping or while on the shelf?
4 minutes read
One of the biggest advantages of ABS is its ability to be smoothed with acetone, an organic solvent. But how does the smoothing process work and how can you do it safely?
Electrochromic technology enables layers that can change color or become transparent using an electrical current. Compared to other color-changing technologies such as photochromism and thermochromism, electrochromic devices can be perfectly controlled to achieve the desired transparency at any time. While the technology has been discovered almost 50 years ago, only recently have commercial applications emerged, mainly in electrochromic glass for automotive rearview mirrors and airplane windows.
5 minutes read
