Recent Progress on Polymer Materials for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) is the process of printing 3D objects in a layer-by-layer manner. Polymers and their composites are some of the most widely used materials in modern industries and are of great interest in the field of AM due to their vast potential for various applications, especially in the medical, aerospace, and automotive industries. Many studies have been conducted to develop new polymer materials for AM techniques, which include vat photopolymerization, material jetting, powder bed fusion, material extrusion, binder jetting, and sheet lamination. Although several reviews on the development of polymer materials for AM have been published, most of them only focus on a specific application, process, or type of material. Therefore, this article serves to provide a comprehensive review on the progress in polymer material development for AM techniques. It begins with an introduction to different AM techniques, followed by highlighting the progress of their development. Material requirements, notable advances in newly developed materials and their potential applications are discussed in detail and summarized. This review concludes by identifying the major challenges currently encountered in using AM for polymer materials and providing insights into the valuable opportunities it presents, in hopes of spurring further development in this field.

Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Polylactide (PLA) Composites Modified with Mg, Fe, and Polyethylene (PE) Additives

“…Mixing PLA with additives is usually a practical way to improve the properties and cost reduction of this polymer [ 10 ]. In the case of powder particles used in medical applications, the most frequently added to the PLA basis are: silver, magnesium, iron and steel, silicon, boron nitrile, hydroxyapatite and more both in the micro and nano-scale [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. These additives are commonly used for different medical purposes, namely: antibacterial, degradation, magnetic or conductive properties, among others.…”

Discrete-Event Simulation Thermal Model for Extrusion-Based Additive Manufacturing of PLA and ABS

“…Wang et al [11] analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of different polymer-based additive processes including extrusion-based additive manufacturing. Tan et al [12] reviewed the state of the art of commodity, engineering, and high-performance polymers used in additive manufacturing. Polymers undergo melting, thermal transitions, and solidification during the extrusion-based additive manufacturing process.…”

“…Polymers undergo melting, thermal transitions, and solidification during the extrusion-based additive manufacturing process. Tan et al [12] highlighted the different mechanical, rheological, and thermal properties that affect the additive manufacturing processability and the 3D-printed part properties. Several polymers have been successfully used in the extrusion-based additive manufacturing process.…”

“…Recently, however, several semi-crystalline polymers such as polyamides (PA) [27,28], polyether ether ketone (PEEK) [29][30][31], and polypropylene (PP) [21,32,33] have been used for the extrusion-based 3D printing process. Suitable numerical models enable designers to account for the different properties of the polymers during the 3D printing process and optimize the design of 3D-printed parts [12,[34][35][36].…”

“…Orthotropy in the conductivity of the 3D-printed material due to different conductivities along the bead and across the beads is considered. The conductivity matrix transformation from the local system to the global system is shown by Equation (12).…”