Getting to Production with Additive Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, represents a transformative shift from traditional manufacturing methods. Unlike traditional processes, which rely on physical tools, molds, or dies to shape materials into physical products, additive manufacturing builds objects layer by layer using materials like resins or filaments. This approach enables the creation of complex geometries and rapid prototyping, making it invaluable across industries, including consumer, automotive, industrial, medtech, and oral health.
What is Additive Manufacturing?
Additive manufacturing processes differ from traditional manufacturing processes in fundamental ways. Traditional manufacturing typically involves machining, casting, molding, or assembly. The subtractive type of traditional manufacturing cuts parts and components from larger objects. Production is generally done in large batches or mass quantities, with fixed designs that are difficult, time-consuming, and costly to modify once the tooling is created. Additive manufacturing builds objects a single layer at a time, using filaments or resins to create solid objects with successive thin layers. Learn more about 3D printing.
Popular types of additive manufacturing include:
- Electron beam melting (EBM)
- Selective laser sintering (SLS)
- Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS)
- Fused filament fabrication (FFF)
- Direct energy deposition
- Powder-bed fusion
- Stereolithography (SLA)
- Digital Light Synthesis (DLS)
Hobbyists often use FFF 3D printers to create 3D objects out of filaments. 3D printing technologies like stereolithography (SLA) and the Digital Light Synthesis™ (DLS™) process utilize UV light sources and liquid resins to produce durable objects with high functionality. These technologies can make stronger, more sophisticated industrial components, automotive parts, dental applications, and consumer products.
From Computer-aided Design to Production
Additive manufacturing workflows, like Carbon’s Idea to Production platform, can help you create products that can’t be produced using traditional manufacturing processes. Cutting-edge design software allows you to produce complex lattice geometries with a 3D printer. For example, Carbon Design Engine is a cloud-based lattice design platform that saves engineers significant time and resources by producing complex geometric lattice structures.
Prototyping and iterating designs are faster when you can print a prototype on demand. Rapid prototyping is a great asset for streamlining the manufacturing process and getting your products to market quickly. In addition, you can optimize your design for production using the same material and process as the prototype.
Why Additive Manufacturing with Carbon Is a Cut Above the Rest
From component prototypes to end-use products, 3D printing methods such as Carbon Digital Light Synthesis technology increase efficiency from idea to production.
Carbon has developed 3D printing materials to work in concert with our cutting-edge industrial DLS printers. Our high-performance rigid and elastomeric resins offer predictable mechanical responses and are used in various applications for consumer, medical, automotive, and industrial markets. Carbon has also validated a range of quality, third-party resins to offer our customers even more material options. Learn more about Materials
The Carbon Production Network is an ecosystem of contract manufacturers and design firms that specialize in Carbon technology. If you need parts and components printed, Carbon’s established network of partners will get the job done.
The Power of the Carbon Platform
Carbon offers more than 3D printers. We’ve built the Idea-to-Production platform to help customers design, develop, and produce better products and get them to market in less time. The hardware, software, and materials on the Carbon platform, along with Carbon’s expertise, allow you the freedom to engineer, create, and scale high-quality, end-use products with greatly reduced lead times.
See how the world’s leading companies are using the Carbon DLS process to 3D print the best-performing products, Powered by Carbon.
Make Radically Better Products
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3D as It’s Meant to Be
Interested in utilizing Carbon to accelerate product development? Reach out to us at sales@carbon3d.com to learn more!