Application and Research Status of Alternative Materials for 3D-printing Technology

Application features and research status of alternative 3D-printing materials for six typical 3D-printingtechniques were reviewed. From the point of view of physical forms, four kinds of materials of liquid photosensitive resin material, thin sheet material (paper or plastic film) , low melting point filament material and powder material are included. And from the composition point of view, nearly all kinds of materials in the production and life are included such as polymer materials: plastic, resin, wax; metal and alloy materials; ceramic materials. Liquid photosensitive resin material is used for stereo lithigraphy apparatus(SLA); thin sheet materials such as paper or plastic film are used for laminated object manufacturing(LOM); low melting point polymer filament materials such as wax filament, polyolefin resin filament, polyamide filament and ABS filament are used for fused deposition modeling(FDM); very wide variety powder materials including nylon powder, nylon-coated glass powder, polycarbonate powder, polyamide powder, wax powder, metal powder(Re-sintering and infiltration of copper are needed after sintering), wax-coated ceramic powder, wax-coated metal powder and thermosetting resin-coated fine sand are used for selective laser sintering(SLS). Nearly the same above powder materials are used for selective laser melting(SLM), but the printed parts own much more higher density and better mechanical properties. Powder materials are likewise used for threedimensional printing and gluing(3DP), however, the powders are stuck together by tricolor binder sprayed through nozzle and cross-section shape of the part is color-printed on it. Finally, the development direction in both quality and the yield of 3D-printing materials were pointed out to be a bottle-neck issue and a hot topic in the field of 3D-printing.