Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM)

Although, the discovery of the FDM is before 1990s, we have been more familiar by this technique just couple of years ago. After 2012, the copyright of FDM technology has been expired and then lost of start-ups all around the World, launched their desktop platforms. The basics of this technique is mostly physical therefore, it is more easier to understand and develop this technique comparing to laser based powder bed systems or UV based resin systems. It was seriously cost-effective (nearly 50 times) and easy to use. Anyone who can make basic designs via 3D CAD softwares can learn to use these machines within an hour. You can use real plastics materials in FDM therefore, that gives you the option to test your real material in the prototyping phase. Only parameter you need to control is temprature of environment. If you can stabilise the heat around the nozzles, you can get sustainable big volume products as much as you can. However, each technique has its own advantages and disadvantages obviously. The surfaces of FDM products are extremely layered and does not accepted by most of the authorities. Moreover, for features like snap-fits or joints, it is not likely to recommend to use FDM due to flexibility problems. Finally, the mechanical properties are likely to change according to the axis in this technology. Orientation choice might effect the properties like tensile strength, elongation at yield and flexural strength, hence it may not be possible to compare the scientific calculations by the real test results in a proper way.