At fi rst blush, this may seem more complex than popular technologies for 3D printing or additive manufacturing, where objects are formed by printing each physical layer at a time, one on top of another. But Swartz, CTO and Chairman of Impossible Objects, said CBAM has advantages over other types of additive manufacturing processes, many of which are complex in their own right. “The processes that exist today
are all very old,” he noted, adding that FDM (fused deposition modeling) and SLS (selective laser sintering) have been in development for 20–30 years. And many methods can only produce prototypes. Typically, he said, they can’t create something with the strength of injection molding or better, and stronger parts that are created by selective laser sintering metal take much longer to make with machines that are substan- tially more expensive and have more geometric restrictions. While every process has its particular purpose, “the future of additive manufacturing is functional parts,” said Swartz. CBAM allows for parts with few geometric restrictions created with high-strength materials that can be used immediately. Additional milling can be done after the part is fi nished in order to make the part more accurate, but most of the parts Impossible Objects delivers do not need additional processing. “This is really the fi rst new process in the last 25 years that solves a lot of the problems with present 3D printing speed, material properties and material selection, and that’s what distinguishes it from existing processes,” he said. One advantage of CBAM is its speed. Impossible Objects uses rela- tively inexpensive thermal inkjet heads to apply the aqueous solution, and because the solution is low-viscosity, the inkjet heads can run very fast.
October 2015 |
AdvancedManufacturing.org 105
Right now, the printer is being developed to print about 12 pages of 8" × 10" sheets of material in a minute, and Swartz said he sees the capability of going fi ve times faster. This doesn’t include the heating step or the removal of the
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