Design Modification for Multi-material Printing with Fused Deposition Modeling

Abstract

Fused deposition modeling 3D printers have wide future scope as most of FDM printers are small enough to qualify for desktop printer and easy to be operated by a layman, which enables its opportunity to become a consumer product for common people in coming future. On top of that, addition of multi-material printing feature at desktop-level 3D printers will be an attractive feature as 3D printing with multiple materials unleashes the various advantages whether it be printing with multiple colors or printing with different types of materials. Printing soluble supports with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), printing pre-assembled complex structures, getting different combination of properties in a single part, etc. will be possible for desktop 3D printers. In this chapter, currently available techniques for multimaterial printing are reviewed thoroughly with the advantages and disadvantages of each as well a better alternative approach is proposed.