ABS filament, as a kind of material widely used in 3D printing technology, its molding performance has a crucial impact on printing quality and efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the forming characteristics of ABS filament and its application in 3D printing process.
First of all, ABS filament has excellent formability. As acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, ABS material has toughness, hardness and rigidity, which makes it show good dimensional stability and mechanical properties in the molding process. ABS filament has moderate fluidity and can fill the mold at low pressure while maintaining the surface gloss of the product. In addition, ABS material has good thermal stability and is not easy to decompose at high temperatures, which makes it able to maintain high molding accuracy in the 3D printing process.
However, the molding process of ABS filament also faces some challenges. Due to the strong hygroscopic properties of ABS materials, adequate drying treatment is required before forming, otherwise it is easy to appear bubbles, cracks and other defects in the printing process. It is usually recommended to dry at a temperature of 80-90 ° C for more than 3 hours to ensure that the moisture inside the material is completely eliminated. In addition, the ABS filament needs to control the printing temperature and printing speed during the printing process. Too high printing temperature will lead to material decomposition, while too low temperature will affect the fluidity of the material; Printing speed is too fast to easily lead to insufficient filling, and too slow may cause excessive cooling of the material, affecting the performance of the product.
For example, in an auto parts manufacturing company, in order to improve production efficiency and reduce costs, ABS filament is introduced for 3D printing technology. In the initial application, due to insufficient drying treatment of ABS filament, the printed parts have problems such as bubbles and cracks, which seriously affect the performance and service life of the product. After technical improvement, the ABS filament is strictly dried, and the printing temperature and speed are optimized, and finally the parts that meet the quality requirements are successfully produced, which greatly shortens the product development cycle and reduces the production cost.
In terms of mold design, the molding of ABS filament also needs special attention. The control of mold temperature is very important for the quality of the product. Higher mold temperature helps to improve the surface gloss of the product, but too high temperature will lead to an increase in the shrinkage of the product. Therefore, it is usually recommended to control the mold temperature between 60-80 ° C. At the same time, the design of the mold should consider reasonable runner and gate size to ensure that the material can be evenly filled with the mold to avoid problems such as short shot and poor size.
Taking a medical device company as an example, when using ABS filament to print a medical model, it was found that the mold temperature had a great influence on the surface quality and dimensional accuracy of the product. After many tests, the mold temperature is controlled at about 70℃, and the flow path and gate design are optimized, and the high-precision medical model is successfully printed, which provides strong support for the diagnosis and treatment of doctors.
In addition, the molding performance of ABS filament can also be improved by adding modifiers. For example, the addition of glass fiber (GF) can improve the strength and heat resistance of the ABS filament, making it suitable for more demanding printing applications. At the same time, by blending with polycarbonate (PC) and other materials, the impact strength and weather resistance of ABS filament can be further improved, and its application range can be expanded.
In summary, ABS filament has good molding performance and is suitable for 3D printing technology applications. Through reasonable drying treatment, temperature control and mold design, the printing quality and efficiency of ABS filament can be effectively improved. At the same time, by adding modifiers or blending with other materials, the molding performance of ABS filament can be further improved to meet the application needs of different fields.