A polymer body includes a first thermoplastic polymer, and a second thermoplastic polymer. The first thermoplastic polymer and the second thermoplastic polymer form a continuous solid structure. The first thermoplastic polymer forms an external supporting structure that at least partially envelops the second thermoplastic polymer. A first flow temperature of the first thermoplastic polymer is at least 10 C. higher than a second flow temperature of the second thermoplastic polymer. The first thermoplastic polymer may be removable by exposure to a selective solvent.

An additive manufacturing system comprising: an additive manufacturing device, said device including: a resin vessel for containing a material which is polymerisable on exposure to radiation; a build platform having a build surface arranged to have an object manufactured thereon; a radiation source; said radiation source positioned to irradiate uncured material on said build surface to manufacture the object; said device in wireless communication with a central station; said central station arranged to process data to create manufacturing files; said central station arranged to communicate said files to said device such that the device manufactures the object based upon said files.

Some examples include a computer-readable medium storing executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, are to cause the processor to receive electronic data describing a part to be manufactured in a three-dimensional additive manufacturing process; develop instructions using the electronic data for creating an outer layer on a surface of the part in the additive manufacturing process, where the outer layer having a physical property that differs from that of the surface of the part; and manufacture the part using the instructions.

The present invention refers to a method for polishing polyamide objects obtained by additive manufacturing or 3D printing techniques, which comprises immersion of the polyamide object in a mixture of formic acid and dichloromethane at room temperature for a period of time comprised between 5 seconds and 6 minutes. This method allows effectively elimination or reduction of the roughness of the polyamide objects obtained by additive manufacturing or 3D printing techniques, for example, obtained by techniques such as the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) with a simple procedure which does not require neither high temperatures nor extended treatment times. The present invention also refers to the object obtainable according to such method.

A process to cure and/or modify the surface of a three dimensional (3D) printed part comprising the steps of immersing a three dimensional (3D) printed part, containing reactive moieties, into a liquid bath at an elevated temperature to effect polymerization of the reactive moieties of the 3D printed part to provide a cured 3D printed part is described. The liquid bath can further contain reactive molecules that can react with the surface of the 3D printed part to provide a coating which alters the surface characteristics of the 3D printed part.

The combination of 3D printing technology plus the additional dimension of transformation over time of the printed object is referred to herein as 4D printing technology. Particular arrangements of the additive manufacturing material(s) used in the 3D printing process can create a printed 3D object that transforms over time from a first, printed shape to a second, predetermined shape.

A system for producing three-dimensional objects forms fluid paths within the support structure to facilitate the removal of the support structure following manufacture of the object. The system includes a first ejector configured to eject a first material towards a platen to form an object, a second ejector configured to eject a second material towards the platen to form support for portions of the object, at least one portion of the support having a body with at least one fluid path that connects at least one opening in the body to at least one other opening in the body, and a fluid source that connects to the at least one fluid path of the support to enable fluid to flow through the at least one fluid path to remove at least an inner portion of the support from the object.

A method of forming a three-dimensional object, which method includes a cleaning or washing step, is carried out by: (a) providing a carrier and a fill level, and optionally an optically transparent member having a build surface defining the fill level, the carrier and the fill level having a build region therebetween; (b) filling the build region with a polymerizable liquid, the polymerizable liquid comprising a mixture of (i) a light polymerizable liquid first component, and (ii) a second solidifiable component that is different from the first component; (c) irradiating the build region with light, to form a solid polymer scaffold from the first component and also advancing the carrier away from the build surface to form a three-dimensional intermediate having the same shape as, or a shape to be imparted to, the three-dimensional object and containing the second solidifiable component carried in the scaffold in unsolidified and/or uncured form; (d) washing the three-dimensional intermediate; and (e) concurrently with or subsequent to the irradiating step, and/or the washing step, solidifying and/or curing the second solidifiable component in the three-dimensional intermediate to form the three-dimensional object.

Apparatus and methods are disclosed to provide a guide for sand blasting a fiber-reinforced object. The proposed guide consist of three-dimensional (3D) features that will result in reflective ray-like protrusions that can be detected and displayed by Augmented Reality (AR) hardware including a head mounted display. The AR hardware determines a virtual object to be presented in a field of view, a position in the field of view, and a perspective of the virtual object in the field of view based on position information from the reflective ray-like protrusions. At least a portion of the sand blasting area is observable through the display and lens when the display is presenting the rendered virtual object.

The present invention relates to methods of producing polymer fibers and polymer fiber products and materials recovery from these processes. It is an object of this invention to produce polymer fibers and products that include these fibers using selective dissolution of multicomponent fiber and to recover the dissolved polymer and solvent for subsequent use.