Article
Thermoplastics and thermoset plastics are classes of polymers used in injection molding, CNC machining, 3D printing, and urethane casting. Like elastomers, another class of polymer, thermoplastics and thermosets both consist of long, repeating chains of molecules. Under a microscope, the structure of a thermoplastic resembles a railroad track while a thermoset material looks like a […]
Article
Improving part stiffness is critical for load bearing applications, and can be accomplished through both design geometry and material properties. In this article, we’ll employ many of the same formulas we discussed in our previous article about leveraging geometric structures to improve stiffness. However, here we’ll focus on material selection, altering the properties of materials […]
Article
We get a lot of questions about the performance of different 3D printed materials and technologies, specifically as it relates to parts printed on hobbyist vs commercial-grade machines. There are plenty of off-the-cuff ways of making such evaluations, but empirical data is certainly better. So we were pretty excited when we came across a recent academic […]
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Fictiv offers a variety of 3D printing materials and can produce parts using Stereolithography (SLA), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Multi Jet Fusion (MJF), and Carbon Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) technologies. For each of these 3D printing processes, the table below lists the available materials and colors along with their average lead […]
Article
Die casting is a manufacturing process in which molten metal, typically a non-ferrous alloy like aluminum or zinc, is injected into a mold or die to create precise and complex metal parts. It’s a method known for its efficiency in producing large quantities of parts with high precision. The figure below shows a magnesium die-cast […]
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Sheet metal is generally composed of thin and flat sheets of metallic material. Its versatility makes it very useful for a broad range of applications and manufacturing processes. It can be rapidly shaped and cut to produce many components and can be made from various metals and metal alloys like stainless steel, carbon steel, aluminum, […]
