From: ben halford (ben_halford2003@yahoo.co.uk)
Date: Fri Jun 10 2005 - 20:50:49 EEST
Metallic Glass - not quite below 100 deg C but nevertheless has potenital in RP http://www.newscientist.com/channel/mech-tech/mg18624931.000
Regards
Ben
Jonathan Harris <j.j.harris@bham.ac.uk> wrote:
... and then of course this might be really interesting (if you can get hold of any - sorry I know this probably doesn't fit your availability criterion):
Quote from Nature, Research Highlights Vol 435|9 June 2005 (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v435/n7043/pdf/435716a.pdf)
"Going soft
Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 205502 (2005)
You can squeeze and mould it like putty. But
the material developed by WeiHua Wang, of
the Institute of Physics in Beijing, and his
team is not a plastic made from polymers
- it is a metallic glass that goes soft in
boiling water.
Wang's blend of cerium, aluminium and
copper, with a dash of niobium, is completely
amorphous. At room temperature, it has the
hardness, toughness and electrical
conductivity of a typical metal. When heated,
it displays plastic properties, becoming
malleable at just 68 C. This unusually low
glass transition temperature, combined with
resistance to crystallization, means the
material should appeal to manufacturers."
Sounds like fun to me!
Regards,
Jonathan.
________________________________
From: Jonathan Harris [mailto:j.j.harris@bham.ac.uk]
Sent: 09 June 2005 08:57
To: 'Eric Lie'
Cc: RP-ML
Subject: RE: [rp-ml] Materials for 3D Printer
Some thoughts....
Polycaprolactone melts at around 60 deg C and is relatively tough - a bit like nylon. Only drawback in my experience is that when molten (even using indirect methods, e.g. immersing in hot water) it sticks like crazy to just about anything. (People have tried RPing it before (Zein, Hutmacher, Tan and Teoh, Fused deposition modeling of novel scaffold architectures for tissue engineering applications, Biomaterials, Volume 23, Issue 4, 15 February 2002, Pages 1169-1185. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TWB-44HSM83-T/2/ef9c2e7a48b05496fb1115ce0444ad0e)).
Something else that might be suitable, which I came across courtesy of another list, is this:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?Criteria=polymorph&doy=9m6
It melts at approx 60 deg and doesn't become adhesive when molten (though I have only ever used it in conjunction with the manufacturers instructions). I can't really comment on pricing as I don't know your definition of expensive.
Regards,
Jonathan.
**************************************
Biomaterials Unit
University of Birmingham
School of Dentistry
UK.
________________________________
From: Eric Lie [mailto:EricLie@ntu.edu.sg]
Sent: 09 June 2005 07:46
To: rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi
Subject: [rp-ml] Materials for 3D Printer
Dear all,
Does anyone have any idea of a material that has melting point of lower than 80 degrees Celsius or below that won't give out foul burnt smell and yet still not brittle (e.g. cannot be wax)?
I am looking for materials for home-based 3D printer. The materials cannot be expensive (ie commonly available).
Thank you very much for the help.
Cheers,
Eric
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