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Acrylic glass is undoubtedly one of the 3D materials that are generally underestimated in terms of their potential
Anyone who is familiar with 3D printing usually first thinks of plastics such as ABS or the various PA plastics or perhaps 3D printable metals, from aluminum and stainless steel to silver and gold when they think of 3D materials. In 2016, ceramic printing was still largely exotic.
It seems all the more urgent to us at 3D Activation to take a closer look at an even less well-known 3D material, namely acrylic glass, also commonly known under the trade name PMMA plastic. You will be surprised by the unimagined potential of this material, of which the possibility of printing with large installation spaces (and consequently correspondingly large 3D models) stands out like a beacon.
The abbreviation PMMA stands for polymethyl methacrylate, colloquially known as plexiglass or acrylic glass, and describes a synthetic, transparent (hence glass) and thermoplastic (i.e. deformable when heated) plastic.
The history of acrylic glass begins in 1928
Acrylic glass or PMMA was developed in 1928, almost at the same time in Germany, Great Britain and Spain, with chemists in particular developing in the German context Walter Bauer (1893 – 1968) can be called the father of acrylic glass.
In 1933, the pharmacist and entrepreneur Otto Röhm (1876 – 1939) was the first supplier in Germany to produce panes of acrylic glass and bring them to market. The trade name Plexiglas also goes back to Röhm. In 1939, Heinrich Wöhlk (1913 – 1991) provided the first contact lenses made of PMMA/acrylic glass. With the first acrylic glass lids of radio record players in 1956 (in the middle of the “economic miracle”), this material finally began to find its way into the world of everyday products, which consequently celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.
3D printing with acrylic glass
Of course, the career of acrylic glass as a 3D material only began decades later, namely essentially only from 2012. In order to be able to print with this material, the acrylic glass first has to powdered will. This processing procedure means that 3D models made of acrylic glass or PMMA plastic are generally not transparent, contrary to the typical appearance of the main material.
In addition to the large installation spaces mentioned above (of 1060 x 600 x 500 mm), PMMA plastic offers 3D models with a great variety of details, which can also be burned out and are comparatively cheap to produce.
PMMA plastic is processed using the Furan Direct Binding (=FDB) printing process. Areas of application are, for example, sand molds, for example for grey, steel and investment casting, but also large-scale architectural models.
As a special variant of the refinement of PMMA print models, we offer you, in addition to coloring and infiltration, a coating of the 3D model velvet on.
Are you also interested in our numerous other 3D materials? You can find a lot of information about this on our website, as well as about our printing processes and services.
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