From the course: Additive Manufacturing: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques

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Printing with flexible filament

Printing with flexible filament

- [Woman] Film is to create flexible principle around for a long time but now there're more of them. These materials tend to be abrasion resistant and able to bend and stretch to various degrees. There are many products that need to be flexible, shock mountings, molds and gaskets are just a few examples. Some of these flexible parts are ideal for 3D printing. Lets say benefit from customization like the soles of shoes or models of internal organs for surgery planning. Thermoplastic elastomers or TPE, is a broad class of materials that combines the elastic properties of rubber with the several plastic properties needed for processes like injection molding and filament-based 3D printing. The terms TPE and TPU for thermoplastic urethane are often used interchangeably when discussing filament types for 3D printing. There're also PLA variants called soft PLA or flexible PLA that contain modifiers that reduce the crystallinity of…

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