Why V–T–P–M?
Versatile:
- Uses a wide range of standard and engineering plastics and composites.
- Operates at the widest range of temperatures.
- Large chamber capacity for making both large and small products.
- Two extruders allow for very flexible printing.
- Prints from any applicable file format.
Thermoplastics
includes the entire range of standard polymers and engineering plastics with added metal, ceramics, glass or other materials depending on the requirements.
Particle
Particle = granules = pellets (including standardized
recycled elements)
Particles, as distinct from filaments (thermoplastic thread) lower production costs exponentially.
At the same time, they greatly widen the range of material that can be extruded,
while increasing the speed and volume of output many times compared to filament printing.
Manufacturing
VTPM is about quickly and efficiently creating both small- and large-scale, complex, robust one-piece or multi-component products to help manufacturing accomplish its tasks rapidly, cost-efficiently and with high quality.
The need for new thermoplastic extrusion 3D printing technology
There are problems with existing thermoplastics 3D printing technology. Although additive manufacturing technologies have been around for a long time, their application in industrial production is still very limited. The key reason is that additive technologies are failing to meet the demands of industry.
We developed Versatile Thermoplastics Particle Manufacturing (VTPM) technology to solve these problems.
In order to understand the problems and the solutions, it is vital to grasp what the
requirements of the industry are. In order to understand these requirements, one must first be
clear on the basic task of manufacturing: to create objects of the right shape with the right
properties, from which larger objects/products are assembled. This means the creation of objects
of precise geometric shape made from a wide range of materials, and of the required quality.
In accomplishing this, the economic aspects of production are governed by a combination of three
parameters: price, quality, and speed. Ideal production would be a high quality product produced
very quickly at low cost. One has to strike a balance between these three.
Problems with existing thermoplastics 3D printing technologies
The problems with current additive technologies fall under
Lack of ability to print a large object or product with good quality
A narrow range of materials to print from
Quality not matching the needs.
Thus, the requirements of industry were not being met.
Solving the existing problems
Our goal was to create an additive manufacturing system that, for its class, works with a wide
range of materials, and prints from small to large size objects with high geometric accuracy
and quality.
It was also important that the printer be economically viable from the user's (manufacturer’s)
point of view, creating short run products with complex geometry.
Taking these requirements as a reference, what are the parameters that additive technology and the
3D printer needs to have in order to match that?
Since we are working in a particular segment of additive technologies - thermoplastic extrusion,
which is the most widely used method among additive technologies – the existng limitations
for this method had to be overcome:
Quality not high enough, due to anisotropy problems.
Degree of accuracy when printing large products too low.
Insufficient speed of printing the product to be economically viable.
Therefore, VTPM was created to meet the needs of industry by printing pellets from the widest range
of materials, with high geometric accuracy, with a universal extruder (or multiple extruders to
print with different materials or create easily separable supports) in an adaptive thermal chamber
heated to 150° C.
Thus, the creation of VTPM has removed the main limitations of the thermoplastic 3D printing method
for industry.
