Development of Translucent RP Material by Post-processing of FDM ABSi

FDM ABSi의 후가공을 통한 반투명 RP 재료의 개발

Translucent plastics are commonly used in packaging of mechanical and/or electrical components. Although Rapid Prototyping(RP) provides prototypes of various materials, translucent RP parts are not readily available from most RP processes. ABSi is one of the ABS materials available for Stratasys' FDM process, and the material has potential to be translucent. In this paper, two post-processing techniques were applied in order to increase optical transmissivity of the parts made of FDM's ABSi. First, elevated temperature condition was applied resulting in increased transmissivity while dimensional shrinkage was observed. Second, resin infiltration and surface sanding provided upto 16% transmissivity without shrinkage. These post-processes can be selectively applied to increase transmissivity of ABSi parts. Thus, translucent FDM part can be fabricated from regular FDM process followed by the post-processes developed in this study.