Heterogenous Multi-Material Printing

Every object I've seen in the world of 3D printing seems to usually be made of a single material. Even that new Dualstrusion Makerbot that uses a pair of filaments and printheads seems to just be doing the same material in 2 different colors.

Leaving colors aside, what possibilities are there for heterogenous printing of objects in more than one material?

If we see contrast in materials properties as a useful starting point, then which choice of materials would most complement each other, if you were down to a choice of 2 or 3 different materials?

Which materials could we choose based on the ability to combine their respective printing methods into a single device or process? Which ones would be most compatible?

Is anybody currently working on this?

ABS and HDPE blend well and give a range of properties depending on the ratio. I discovered this when flushing an extruder with one after it had been extruding the other.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Hmm, that's interesting - so would you imagine these 2 materials coming out of the same printer head, blending them together, or would you see them coming out of separate print heads?

I guess I was thinking more about 2 different printheads each printing out different materials with very different properties, like say, metal and rubber, for example. So you could print one portion of a part with the metal, and another portion with the rubber, like for a heavier hockey puck. So I meant using multiple extruder heads.

I guess your choice of different materials would depend on which ones can properly bond together, unless of course you had a glue-gun included as an extra print head.

What specific problem are you attempting to solve sanman? You don't say.

Oh heck, I wasn't working on anything that I was looking to solve. I just wanted to know what was possible, and if anyone was already working on something along those lines.

Ah... I see. A general inquiry for ideas. I should have recognized your post for what it is.

... with FDM materials you have sometimes problems with adhesion (or delamination) when the top material won't fuse/melt to the underlying one.

With pastes this is easier, if the pastes have the same basis --- e.g. water based ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

What types of materials are available through pastes? Just ceramics?

... I've 'printed' with air-drying and heat- or UV-curing materials - here some of my dispensers:[reprap.org]

The one with UV-LED's gets then a black, light-tight cartouche and needle, so the UV-resin won't 'cure' in the tube.

The one with the big brass-head was ussed for heat-curing glues - I've only removed the heaters and thermal isolation ...

The small dispensers with the orange and yellow nozzles were used with solder-paste or with a special brazing paste - here I've heated the track after dispensing with an IR-heater or with a laserspot, so it melted, fused to the surface and solidified after cooling down ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]