1Oct/12Off
How 3D Printing Could Save HP
At Shaping the Future, Christopher Barnatt notes there are many types of 3D printers. The Stratasys units HP sold use "fused deposition modeling" or FDM - injection molding plastic goes in as a thread and is deposited into the input design. Other types of 3D printing include:
- Stereolithographers, or SLAs, which use lasers to deposit layers of polymer that is hardened after it's deposited.
- Polyjet matrix devices that spray two polymers from a print head to harden quickly under an ultraviolet light.
- Selective Laser Sintering, or SLS, devices that fuse layers of powder together and can use a variety of materials from wax and nylon to stainless steel and aluminum.
- SLS machines that use metals are sometimes called Direct Metal Laser Sintering, or DMLS machines. You can also make metal objects by using SLS to create a mold you pour metal into, a production method almost as old as civilization.
- Selective Laser Melting, or SLM, will fully melt the powder being used in molding, not just fuse it together.
- Selective Heat Sintering, or SHS, uses a thermal print head instead of a laser to heat the powder being melted as it is deposited.
- Multi-Jet Modeling, or MJM, uses an inkjet print head to bind successive layers of fused powder together into a final form.
See the full story here: http://www.thestreet.com/story/11719888/1/how-3d-printing-could-save-hp.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN