Material Extrusion

Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D printing technology meets the requirements of individual parts, while being extremely material-saving and capable of processing the high-performance polymer PEEK. Using FFF, the material is melted in filament form, a kind of plastic strand, through the printhead using high temperatures of up to 500 °C and applied in different layers to the desired component. Decisive for the component quality is the controlled solidification process of the semi-crystalline plastic.

Some methods melt or soften the material to produce material layers. Besides the deposition of single elements in the 3D structure, fast and continuous deposition of 1-dimensional structures within the 2D layer is possible in this technology. In fused filament fabrication, also known as fused deposition modeling (FDM™), the model or part is produced by extruding small beads or streams of material that harden immediately wile cooling to form layered structures. A stream or filament of thermoplastic, a metal filament, or other (composite) material is fed into an extrusion nozzle head (3D printer extruder), which liquefies the material and turns the flow on and off. Meanwhile printers with simultaneous multi material deposition are available, also allowing support structures for complex geometries.