The Rapid Prototyping Centre has two Stratasys Fortus 360mc 3D printers used in-house to make printed objects. These machines use fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology to print highly accurate and strong parts.
Fortus 360mc
A state-of-the-art $200,000 production-grade 3D printer that produces accurate and strong parts from a variety of standard thermoplastics.
- 10" × 10" × 14" build area for large parts or many smaller pieces
- Two layer thicknesses of 0.013" (standard) and 0.005" (enhanced)
- Prints in four different materials: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polycarbonate (PC) and polycarbonate-acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PC-ABS).
- Tolerance of ± 0.127 mm (± 0.005 in.) or ± 0.0015 mm/mm (± 0.0015 in/in), whichever is greater.
- For more information on this printer visit the manufacturer's website.
Materials
- In general, PC is the strongest material.
| Material | ABS | PC-ABS | PC | Nylon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength (MPa) 1 | 26-31 | 30-34 | 42-57 | 38.5-46 |
| Elongation at break (%) 2 | 2-7% | 2-5% | 2.5-4.8% | 5.4-30% |
| Impact resistance (J/m) 3 | 128 | 235 | 28-73 | 53-135 |
|
Heat resistance4 |
✔ | ✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | |
| Accuracy | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | |
| Cost (/cu in) | $9.00-$12.25 | $9.00-$12.25 | $9.00-$12.25 |
1Ultimate tensile strength. Variance is along the build axis.
2Flexural modulus. Variance is along the build axis.