7. Sheet Lamination
△Sheet Lamination
Sheet lamination is technically a form of 3D printing that is quite different from the techniques above. Its function is to stack and laminate very thin sheets of material together to create 3D objects or stacks, which are then cut either mechanically or by laser to form the final shape. Layers of material can be fused together using a variety of methods, including heat and sound, depending on the material, which ranges from paper to polymer to metal. When parts are laminated and then laser cut or machined into the desired shape, more waste is generated than with other 3D printing techniques.
Manufacturers use sheet lamination to produce cost-effective, non-functional prototypes at relatively high speeds, which can be used in battery technology, and to produce composite materials because the materials used can be interchanged during the printing process.
Types of 3D printing technologies: Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM), Ultrasonic Consolidation (UC)
●Materials: paper, polymer and sheet metal
●Dimensional accuracy: ±0.1 mm
● Common applications: non-functional prototypes, multi-color printing, casting molds.
●Advantages: fast production, composite printing
●Disadvantages: low precision, a lot of waste, some parts need post-production
Laminated Additive Manufacturing
△Laminated Additive Manufacturing
Lamination is a 3D printing technique in which sheets of material are layered together and glued together, then a knife (or laser or CNC router) is used to cut the layered object into the correct shape. The technique is less common today as the cost of other 3D printing technologies has dropped and the speed and ease of use have increased dramatically.
△BCN3D's Viscous Lithography Manufacturing (VLM) 3D printing process using resin (Source: BCN3D)
Viscous Lithographic Manufacturing (VLM): VLM is BCN3D's patented 3D printing process that laminates thin layers of high-viscosity photosensitive resins onto transparent transfer films. The mechanical system allows resin lamination from both sides of the film, making it possible to combine different resins for multi-material parts and easily removable support structures. The technology is not yet commercialized, but could also be one of the lamination 3D printing techniques.
Composite-based additive manufacturing (CBAM): Startup Impossible Objects has patented this technology, which fuses carbon, glass or Kevlar mats with thermoplastics to create parts.
Selective Lamination Composite Manufacturing (SLCOM): EnvisionTEC, now known as ETEC and owned by Desktop Metal, developed this technology in 2016 that uses thermoplastics as the base material and woven fiber composites.
Note: There are many types of 3D printing technologies. The above are the seven most common types of additive manufacturing technologies in 3D printing, which do not cover all 3D printing technologies on the market.
