Iranian Researchers Build Machine to Produce Feed Materials for 3-D Printers

The materials consumed in the 3-D printers (FDM) are produced from polymer strings called filament. Filament exists in the market in different colors, qualities and thicknesses.

Mohammad Reza Mohammadi, a researcher at Islamic Azad University’s Science and Research Branch in Tehran, manufactured the materials needed for 3-D printers at a lower price compared with foreign samples.

“The raw materials are injected into the machine in the form of granola and are ejected in the form of filament after being melted and pumped,” he explained.

Mohammadi added that the machine has been produced at a much lower price than its foreign sample.

3-D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file.

The creation of a 3-D printed object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process an object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object.

3-D printing is the opposite of subtractive manufacturing which is cutting out/hollowing out a piece of metal or plastic with for instance a milling machine.

3-D printing enables you to produce complex (functional) shapes using less material than traditional manufacturing methods.